U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that peace in war-torn Ukraine was still not on the horizon and that talks between Moscow and Kyiv to bring the conflict to an end were not possible yet, Reuters reports.
Speaking to media at an event in Portugal where he received the University of Lisbon 2020 prize, Guterres said the key at present was doing everything to lessen the impact of the war.
Guterres's comments came after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier on Thursday that Ankara was ready to take on mediation and moderation duties to secure a peace between the two countries.
Asked by Reuters about Erdogan's offer, Guterres said he believed the moment for a "serious peace negotiation" was still far off.
But he said peace had to come one day and would be based on "U.N. charter and international law."
