Ukraine conflict: Putin and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met in Moscow to discuss ways to bring peace to the country.

According to Reuters, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Moscow on Tuesday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of his attempts to settle the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Guterres will also meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for a working meeting and lunch.

"During his visit to Moscow, Guterres aims to discuss what can be done to bring peace to Ukraine as soon as possible." "His office is in contact with the Ukrainian government about a possible visit," UN spokesman Eri Kaneko said.

The importance of Guterres' visit is underscored by the fact that the war between Russian and Ukrainian forces is now in its 58th day.

Putin spoke with European Union chief Charles Michel earlier in the day on the developments in Ukraine, according to AFP. In a phone chat with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the EU chief said he encouraged him to enable humanitarian access to Mariupol during Orthodox Easter.

After the call, Michel tweeted, "Strongly pushed for rapid humanitarian access and safe exit from Mariupol and other besieged cities, especially on the occasion of Orthodox Easter" this weekend.

Hundreds of Ukrainian troops and civilians are said to be holed up within Mariupol's enormous Azovstal steel complex, and Kyiv has repeatedly pleaded for a ceasefire to allow women, children, and the elderly to safely leave the wrecked city.

At the last minute, several planned humanitarian pathways into the vital southern port city were canceled.

Nearly two months after Putin ordered the unexpected invasion of Russia's Western-leaning neighbor, the Kremlin has declared "liberation" of Mariupol, whose control is crucial to its war plans.

This comes after Russia said that talks with Ukraine had come to a halt, stating that Ukraine had not responded to its previous proposal.

"Right now, they (talks) have come to a halt," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a news conference, "since another proposal we put on the Ukrainian negotiators around five days ago, which was written up with their remarks taken into consideration, remains without a response."