UN opens emergency session on Ukraine

Shahid repeated calls for an immediate ceasefire, maximum restraint by all parties and "a full return to diplomacy and dialogue".

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council was due to meet later on Monday to discuss the spiralling humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

With Russian and Ukrainian officials holding talks on the Belarus border, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the assembly he hoped those discussions could lead to a halt in the fighting.

"The guns are talking now but the path of dialogue must always remain open," he said.

"We need peace now."