United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on Russia and Ukraine to declare a four-day truce on Easter.
"Instead of celebrating new life, this Easter coincides with a new Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine," Guterres said, adding that the cloud of war overshadowed Holy Week as a total negation of the Easter message. "The large concentration of soldiers and weapons indicates that the fighting will be even fiercer, bloodier and more destructive."
He proposed that the Easter truce for Ukraine lasts from Thursday to Sunday, April 24. It would be an opportunity to open humanitarian corridors so that people could get out of Mariupol, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk.
"The four-day Easter period should be a moment to unite around saving lives and further dialogue to end the suffering in Ukraine." The United Nations is ready to send humanitarian aid to those areas during those days," he said.
The Ukrainian Church Council has been informed of the proposal.
The spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, claims that since the beginning of the war, Guterres has not even tried to get in touch with Russian President Vladimir Putin, "neither through the Permanent Mission of Russia to the UN, nor directly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
S.Ć./CNN
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