The United Nations Secretary-General has urged Ukraine and Russia to meet for talks to prevent the crisis between them becoming “uncontrollable” and spreading beyond the region.

“What is important at this time is for Ukrainian and Russian authorities to sit down together and engage in direct and
constructive dialogue,” Ban said in the Ukrainian capital Kiev after meeting acting President Oleksandr Turchynov.

His visit follows a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday, where he also called for dialogue and restraint after Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Russian-majority region of Crimea.