The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has said it is time for Russia to end its “absurd” and “unwinnable” war in Ukraine, as the EU prepared to set up a “trust fund” aimed at helping Kyiv repel the invasion and rebuild afterwards.
Speaking to reporters at the UN’s headquarters in New York, Guterres said the war was “going nowhere, fast”. For more than two weeks, the devastated southern city of Mariupol had been encircled by Russian forces, bombed and shelled, he said.
“For what?” he asked. “Even if Mariupol falls, Ukraine cannot be conquered city by city, street by street, house by house.” Guterres said the only outcome of more fighting would be “more suffering, more destruction and more horror”.
Negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv have held several rounds of peace talks that have so far made little headway towards ending nearly four weeks of fighting, which have left thousands dead and displaced more than 10 million people.
“There is enough on the table to cease hostilities now and seriously negotiate now,” he said. “This war is unwinnable. Sooner or later, it will have to move from the battlefield to the peace table. That is inevitable.”
Leaders from the 27-nation EU will gather in Brussels on Thursday, meanwhile, to discuss the bloc’s further response to Moscow’s onslaught, including a longer-term financial support mechanism for Ukraine beyond €1.2bn (£1bn) in emergency funding already agreed.
According to a draft document seen by Agence-France Presse, the EU will commit to “provide support to the Ukrainian government for its immediate needs and, once the Russian onslaught has ceased, for the reconstruction of a democratic Ukraine”.
The document did not provide details on the size of the Ukraine solidarity trust fund or how it might work, but said the European council expected preparations to start “without delay” and would call an international conference to raise cash.
The US president, Joe Biden, is also due to travel to Brussels this week for Nato and G7 talks to discuss further action, including tighter sanctions on Russia. Biden discussed Moscow’s “brutal” tactics in a call with European leaders on Monday.
Boris Johnson is expected to tell allies at the Nato summit that there is an immediate imperative to support the Ukrainians now, and that the Russian tactics using indiscriminate fire on civilian centres is inherently escalatory.
The UK will make the case that new action is needed amid Russia’s increased bombardment of cities such as Mariupol, and urge allies that they should consider this an escalation that requires a response including an increase in the flow of weapons to Ukraine that would improve their ability to resist.
Western officials are keen to avoid a view forming amongst allies that only use of chemical or biological weapons are considered a further escalation, rather than the increased indiscriminate shelling into civilian populations, which the UK believes could merit a further response.
The Commission on Wednesday will also set out plans to ensure that the more than 3.5 million refugees who have fled the Russian invasion have access to jobs, education and housing, vice-president Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday.
The bloc’s initial actions focused on receiving Ukrainians at the border, but “now we must ensure the right resources are in place to meet their needs,” Sefcovic said after a meeting of European affairs ministers in Brussels.
Addressing the Italian parliament in Rome, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that for Russian forces “Ukraine is the gates of Europe, where they want to break in, but barbarism must not be allowed to pass”. He again called for more help to defeat his country’s invaders.
Zelenskiy warned that one potential consequence of the war was “famine that is approaching for some countries”. Ukraine had “always been one of the largest food exporters”, he said, “but how can we sow crops under the strikes of Russian artillery?”
In an interview with European broadcasters late on Monday, Zelenskiy said an end to the war would only be negotiated if he met Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and repeated his acknowledgement that Ukraine could not now secure Nato membership.
Responding to the Ukrainian leader, Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, said Ukraine had offered “heroic” resistance to the invading Russian forces and Italy would support its bid to join the EU, which Kyiv has long said it wants to do.
Draghi said EU accession was a lengthy process because of the reforms needed to integrate fully with the bloc, but added: “I want to say to President Zelenskiy that Italy is at Ukraine’s side in this process. Italy wants Ukraine in the EU.”
The EU has collectively imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow and agreed €1bn in financing for weapons for Ukraine’s military, but cracks are beginning to appear in the bloc’s unity over further measures, including a ban on Russia’s key energy exports.
Combined western sanctions have cut Russia out of most international trade to a degree never imposed on such a large economy, but exceptions have been been carved out for Russian energy exports to Europe, its biggest oil and gas customer.
Several member states insist they still rely too heavily on Russian gas and oil to be able halt all energy imports immediately.
In an effort to cut EU consumption of Russian gas, leaders are also set to agree at this week’s Brussels summit to collectively buy gas, LNG and hydrogen elsewhere.
