A visit by Austria's chancellor to Moscow on Monday is aimed at mitigating "the humanitarian hell in Ukraine", notably by pleading for "humanitarian corridors", his foreign minister said.
Chancellor Karl Nehammer was to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, becoming the first European leader to visit Moscow since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
While "this is not an EU-mandated trip", Nehammer informed key EU leaders beforehand, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told reporters in Luxembourg.
Nehammer believed it was necessary to "leave no stone unturned" in trying to alleviate the brutal conditions faced by Ukrainians, Schallenberg said.
He was speaking as he went into an EU foreign ministers meeting focused on the situation in Ukraine and on possible further sanctions on Russia.
He said Nehammer decided to go to Moscow following a visit to Kyiv on Saturday and talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
This was based on "his personal conviction that if we can do anything to stop this humanitarian hell that has happened in Ukraine, we will do so," Schallenberg said.
"Every voice that makes clear to President Putin how reality really is outside the Kremlin walls is not a lost one."
Nehammer was taking with him "a very clear political message," Schallenberg said, that Putin "is isolating Russia, that he will lose this war morally, and that he is doing everything wrong that can be done wrong".
He will also push for "humanitarian corridors" to evacuate civilians trapped in places such as the besieged city of Mariupol, and for "international humanitarian organisations to be able to conduct their work," Schallenberg said.
Nehammer was also expected to raise alleged war crimes in Bucha and other devastated areas around Kyiv, where Ukrainian authorities say more than 1,200 bodies were found after Russian forces withdrew.
Moscow denies accusations its troops committed war crimes in Ukraine.
Austria's top diplomat said he was "extremely shocked" by the crimes being discovered in Ukraine.
He and other foreign ministers met with the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, early Monday. He said he stressed the need to hold all of those responsible to account.
"There cannot be anybody outside or above the law, not even the president."
