U.N. political chief says need for negotiations to stop war in Ukraine 'could not be more urgent'

A man stands near a damaged part of the National Science Center, Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 11, 2022. REUTERS/Oleksandr Lapshyn

The need for negotiations to stop the war in Ukraine "could not be more urgent," U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the U.N. Security Council on Friday, urging Russia and Ukraine to build on contacts like the meeting between their foreign ministers in Turkey on Thursday.

"We call for such efforts to intensify, including to further secure humanitarian and ceasefire arrangements as a matter of priority," DiCarlo said. "The logic of dialogue and diplomacy must prevail over the logic of war."

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Jonathan Landay and Simon Lewis)