UN’s Guterres: Russia invasion of Ukraine is ‘saddest moment’ of 5-year tenure

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says Russia’s attack on Ukraine — as he appealed for President Vladimir Putin to stop his troops — is “the saddest moment” of his five-year tenure.

The UN chief opens the emergency Security Council meeting by urgently appealing to Putin: “In the name of humanity, bring your troops back to Russia.”

Guterres urges the Russian president to withdraw his troops and added: “In the name of humanity do not allow to start in Europe what could be the worst war since the beginning of the century, with consequences not only devastating for Ukraine, not only tragic for the Russian Federation, but with an impact we cannot even foresee in relation to the consequences for the global economy.”

A war would cause deaths and displacement and people will lose hope in the future, Guterres says, adding Russia’s actions would harm the global economy.

“What is clear for me is that this war doesn’t make any sense,” Guterres says, stressing that it violates the UN Charter and will cause a level of suffering if it doesn’t stop that Europe hasn’t know since at least the 1990s Balkans crisis.