Mr. Dujarric was asked if the Secretary-General had any comment on the possibility of a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian Presidents.

While noting that there is much discussion around “potential dialogues or formats", as well as location, he said “it is obviously important that those parties who are directly involved in this conflict be able to speak to each other directly.”

Asked what role the UN could play in this process, he said the global body will be “supportive and ready to engage in a role that may or may not be given to us based on the principles that the Secretary-General has often reiterated.”

When pressed about whether UN peacekeepers could be deployed to Ukraine, Mr. Dujarric stressed that “any peacekeeping mission anywhere would have to go through the Security Council.”