KYIV: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced his arrival in Kyiv on Wednesday following talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I have arrived in Ukraine after visiting Moscow,” he wrote on his official Twitter account as he landed ahead of talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“We will continue our work to expand humanitarian support and secure the evacuation of civilians from conflict zones. The sooner this war ends, the better — for the sake of Ukraine, Russia, and the world,” Guterres tweeted.

At the Moscow talks on Tuesday, Guterres repeated calls for both Russia and Ukraine to work together to set up “safe and effective” humanitarian corridors in war-torn Ukraine.

In turn, Putin told him he hoped that negotiations could end the conflict which saw Russian troops invading Ukraine on February 24.

“Despite the fact that the military operation is ongoing, we still hope that we will be able to reach agreements on the diplomatic track,” the Russian leader said in televised remarks.

Talks had been taking place in Turkey but stalled after the discovery of civilian bodies in areas near Kyiv previously occupied by Russian forces.