Guterres hails deals to halt attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine, Russia

By Anjali Sharma

UNITED NATIONS – UN Secretary General António Guterres on Thursday hailed the positive announcements from the White House, Kremlin and Kyiv to stop the attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia, in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Guterres said in Brussels “Any ceasefire is welcome because it saves lives, but it is essential that a ceasefire paves the way for a just peace in Ukraine,”  as he addressed the massive Israeli escalation in Gaza and urged the world not to give up on slowing climate change.

He stressed A “just peace” in Ukraine “is a peace that respects the UN Charter, international law and Security Council resolutions, namely about the territorial integrity of Ukraine”, after meeting with EU leaders, during a working lunch as part of a European Summit in Brussels.

His comments followed an earlier statement in which he welcomed the declarations by President Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine seeking to extend the ceasefire to the Black Sea a crucial trade route for food and fertilizer exports to the wider world.

“Reaching an agreement on safe and free navigation in the Black Sea, with security commitments and in line with the UN Charter and international law would be a crucial contribution to global food security and supply chains,” Guterres said, in a statement issued by the UN spokesperson’s office in New York.

It added “It would reflect the importance of trade routes from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation to global markets.”

UN has been heavily invested to ensure that Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea can happen safely, along with the transport of Russian food and fertilizer, to halt spiraling food prices worldwide and stave off famine in vulnerable countries.

UN-brokered Black Sea Initiative was agreed by Russia, Ukraine, Türkiye and the UN in Istanbul in July 2022.

It allowed over 30 million tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs to leave Ukraine’s ports and played an “indispensable role” in global food security, Mr. Guterres said at the time.

UN said that a parallel accord was also agreed between the UN and Moscow on grain and fertilizer exports from Russia, known as a Memorandum of Understanding.

In July 2023, Mr. Guterres expressed his deep regret at Russia’s decision to terminate its involvement in the grain initiative.

“The Secretary-General has consistently supported the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea,” the statement said.

He added that he remains “closely engaged in the continued implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Russian Federation on global food security”.

Mr. Guterres said that he was “saddened and shocked because deaths and destruction are back in Gaza” as he addressed reporters on the sidelines of high-level discussions at the European Council after confirmation from the Israel Defense Forces that it had begun ground operations in the north of the enclave and “waves of attacks throughout the Strip”.

“The Palestinian people have already suffered too much,” Guterres insisted.

He renewed his appeal for the ceasefire to be respected, for unimpeded humanitarian access to all areas of Gaza and for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages.

“It is absolutely essential to keep the door open for the only way to bring peace to the Middle East, which is to have a Palestinian state side-by-side with an Israeli state,” he stressed;.

Head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini expressed his fears for civilians in Gaza on Thursday, “given the ongoing ground invasion separating the north from the south”.

He warned in an online message that the people of Gaza were “again and again going through their worst nightmare”.

Philippe Lazzarini explained that Israeli military evacuation orders were once again impacting tens of thousands of people.

“The vast majority have been already displaced, treated like “pinballs” since the war began nearly 1.5 years ago,” he said.

He also condemned the confirmed killing of 5 UNRWA staff “bringing the death toll to 284. They were teachers, doctors and nurses: serving the most vulnerable”, he said.

Mr. Guterres also expressed concern and cautious optimism -at new UN data highlighted the negative impact on vulnerable communities of climate change.

The latest State of the Global Climate report confirms 2024 as the hottest year since records began 175 years ago, with a global mean temperature of 1.55°C above pre-industrial levels surpassed the critical warming threshold of 1.5°C for the first time.

Mr. Guterres stressed “I am now used to listening time and time again that we are living in the hottest day of the hottest month of the hottest year of the hottest decade. But let’s not give up”.

“The report also said that the 1.5°C limit is still possible in relation to global warming, but we need to double down; double down in the reduction of emissions, double down in decarbonization and double down in the replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy.”