U.N. chief speaks with Russia, Ukraine foreign ministers

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke separately on Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, a U.N. spokesman said.

Guterres expressed "serious concern" to both ministers over the heightened tensions and "welcomed the ongoing diplomatic discussions to defuse those tensions and underlined, yet again, the fact that there is no alternative to diplomacy," said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric.