UN CHIEF CALLS FOR FOUR-DAY TRUCE IN UKRAINE

Tue 19 April 2022:

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has denounced Russia’s new offensive and called for a four-day truce to coincide with the onset of Orthodox Holy Week.

“Instead of a celebration of new life, this Easter coincides with a Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine,” Guterres told reporters at the UN’s headquarters in New York.

“The intense concentration of forces and firepower makes this battle inevitably more violent, bloody and destructive,” he added, before calling for a “humanitarian pause” in fighting from Holy Thursday until Sunday, the date of Orthodox Easter, which is celebrated by most Ukrainians and Russians.

Guterres said the UN was submitting detailed plans to all parties in the conflict and was ready to send humanitarian aid convoys to Mariupol, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk.

World Bank, IMF leaders to meet with Ukraine ministers to discuss further aid

World Bank President David Malpass will host a meeting on Thursday with Ukraine’s prime minister and finance minister to discuss needed assistance beyond the initial funding provided through the bank and the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank has said.

The meeting will include Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, Malpass told an event at the IMF meetings.

Malpass said that Ukraine’s debt burden “has to be worked through and reduced substantially” given the pressures from Russia’s invasion.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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