Ukrainian official: UN meeting with Putin ‘not a good idea’

A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “really not authorized” to speak on Ukraine’s behalf in discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Big Picture: The comment comes as Guterres prepares to meet with Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, before meeting with Zelensky and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday.

• “We need urgent steps to save lives, end human suffering and bring peace to Ukraine,” Guterres wrote. tweet Announcement of meetings on Friday.

News leadership: “This is not a good idea to travel to Moscow. We did not understand his intention to travel to Moscow and speak with President Putin,” Igor Zhovkva, Zelensky’s chief diplomatic adviser, told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

• “Any peace talks are good if they end with a result,” Jovkva said. “I really doubt if the peace talks organized by the Secretary-General of the United Nations will come to any conclusion.”
• Zhovkva added that he believed the United Nations was “lagging behind in Ukraine in terms of humanitarian support for my country.
• “The United Nations lags behind in Ukraine in terms of humanitarian support for my country,” he said. “So it would be good for the UN Secretary-General to focus on these things as well.”