Cost of Russia-Ukraine war 'too high to contemplate', UN chief says

Antonio Guterres spoke with the ministers from Russia and Ukraine and says war can be avoided

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday said a war in Europe involving Russia and Ukraine would be a "disastrous confrontation" and urged leaders to work harder at a diplomatic agreement and "not fail the cause of peace".

"I am deeply worried by the heightened tensions and increased speculation about a potential military conflict in Europe," the UN chief told reporters in New York.

"The price in human suffering, destruction and damage to European and global security is too high to contemplate. We simply cannot accept even the possibility of such a disastrous confrontation."

Without singling out any country by name, Mr Guterres said UN rules bar nations from using force or threats "against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state".

"The time is now to defuse tensions, and de-escalate actions on the grounds," Mr Guterres said.

"Abandoning diplomacy for confrontation is not a step over the line, it is a dive over a cliff."

Tensions are soaring in eastern Europe, with Russia amassing some 130,000 troops on Ukraine’s border and insisting that Kiev never joins Nato. The US says an invasion could begin at any moment.

Mr Guterres spoke earlier on Monday with the foreign ministers of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, and Ukraine, Dymtro Kuleba, expressing “serious concern” over the tensions between those countries, his spokesman said.

"He welcomed the ongoing diplomatic discussions to defuse those tensions and underline yet again the fact that there is no alternative to diplomacy," added spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Mr Guterres remains convinced Russia will not invade Ukraine, added Mr Dujarric. The world body is not relocating any of its 1,440 Ukrainian or 220 international staffers from Ukraine.

Mr Guterres spoke with after attending a monthly lunch Monday with 15 UN Security Council ambassadors at the UN mission of Russia, which currently holds the council’s rotating presidency for the month of February.

The UN’s top body was set on Thursday to hold an annual meeting on Ukraine and the Minsk agreements, which aimed to end war in the mostly Russian-speaking eastern Donbas region of Ukraine.