The UN symbolises the highest expression of the aspiration for peace and prosperity but the ideals that inspired its founding 80 years ago are under threat as never before, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva told the General Assembly on Tuesday.
Foreign Ministers from across the Americas met on the margins of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to rally for greater support for Haiti.
Amid the devastating war in Sudan, UN aid teams are overcoming major obstacles to curb a cholera outbreak claiming lives across the country, with young children particularly at risk.
The UN Secretary-General opened the General Assembly high-level debate with a stark message: the world is awash with overlapping crises – from wars and humanitarian emergencies to climate breakdown – and leaders must decide now “what kind of world we choose to build together.”
The UN Secretary-General told the Security Council on Tuesday it’s important not to lose the “fragile diplomatic momentum” between Ukraine and Russia – and international mediators – over ending the war. He was briefing ambassadors in back-to-back meetings where calling for ceasefire in Gaza, he said the “day after” war ends there, must be anchored in international law, rejecting any “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians. Our live meetings coverage is below; UN News app users can click here.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Tuesday that the crisis in Gaza has become “one of the darkest chapters of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” with worsening suffering and deepening regional instability.
Speaking at a high-level briefing on Ukraine on Tuesday, the UN Secretary General António Guterres told the Security Council that the international community cannot afford to lose “fragile” diplomatic momentum over ending the war with Russia.
Mr. President,
In a letter dated 20 September 2025 addressed to the President of the Security Council, the Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations informed that, on 19 September, three Russian MIG-31 fighters entered up to 10 kilometers inside Estonia’s airspace for 12 minutes, in violation of Estonian airspace.
The United Nations is not in a position to confirm any of the claims made regarding the incident and does not have any further details of the events. This briefing is therefore solely based on information available from public sources.
According to the Estonian Ministry of Defense, the incursion took place between 9:58 am and 10:11 am, in the area of Vaindloo, a small island located in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea.
According to the Ministry, the jets entered the Estonian airspace without permission and had their transponders switched off and did not have flight plans, potentially endangering other aircraft. According to Estonian and Italian officials, Italian F-35 fighters attached to NATO’s air defense support mission in the Baltic states were reportedly activated to intercept the Russian jets and warned them off. Sweden, as part of its national response and in coordination with NATO, along with Finland also reportedly scrambled rapid reaction aircraft.
Estonia stated that this latest incident follows four violations of its airspace by Russia this year, and it has requested consultations with NATO allies under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty. The meeting of the NATO North Atlantic Council has been reportedly scheduled to take place tomorrow, 23 September.
On 20 September, Russia's Defense Ministry stated that its fighter jets made a scheduled flight from Karelia, on the border with Finland, to an airfield in the Kaliningrad Region, in strict accordance with international airspace rules, without deviating from the agreed flight path and without violating Estonian airspace. According to the Russian Federation, the flight path was over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea, more than three kilometers from the island of Vaindloo.
Mr. President,
This latest development follows reported violations by Russian drones of Polish and Romanian airspace.
On 12 September, this Council convened to discuss the incursion of 19 Russian drones into Poland between 9 and 10 September.
On 13 September, according to Romania's Ministry of Defense, a Russian drone was detected in Romanian airspace as two Romanian F-16 jets were monitoring the country's border with Ukraine, after Russian air attacks on Ukraine. The Ministry said that the drone did not fly over populated areas or pose imminent danger.
This series of recent incidents further underscore the already high tensions that endanger European security as the war continues to rage in Ukraine.
Violations of sovereign countries’ airspace are unacceptable.
We again urge all concerned to act responsibly, to use all available channels and to take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions and prevent further risks to regional security.
The world simply cannot afford such danger to spiral out of control, and for the devastating war in Ukraine to further escalate and expand.
Mr. President,
Over the weekend in Ukraine, Russian drones and missiles continued to hit several regions, killing at least three people, injuring dozens more, and damaging civilian infrastructure and residential buildings. Several civilian casualties were reported across the country. According to the Ukrainian authorities, in the central city of Dnipro, a missile with a reported cluster munition hit a residential apartment building, killing at least one person and injuring at least 30 others. Local officials reported that two people were also killed in the Chernihiv region in the north and the Khmelnytskyi region in the west of the country.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, over the past week Russia launched more than 1,500 attack drones,1,280 guided aerial bombs and 50 missiles of various types. This represents a clear escalation of Russia’s attacks against Ukrainian cities and towns.
More casualties were also reported over the weekend in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation, where according to local officials, two civilians were reportedly killed and four injured as a result of Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks.
The continuing trend of intensifying, widespread attacks once again underscores the need to build on recent initiatives for diplomatic efforts towards peace, before the situation reaches even more dangerous levels.
We reiterate our call for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire to pave the way for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in Ukraine, in line with the UN Charter, international law and relevant UN resolutions.
The United Nations remains ready to support all meaningful efforts to this end.
Thank you.
Without greater international engagement, Haiti risks sliding deeper into crisis, leaders warned on Monday at a meeting in New York convened to address the country’s security collapse.
The time has come to free the 48 hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza and to stop the bombing, massacres and displacement in the embattled enclave, French President Emmanual Macron told delegates in the UN General Assembly Hall on Monday.
The Security Council met in New York in emergency session on Monday after planes from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intercepted three Russia jets in Estonian airspace last Friday, according to the Estonian Government. Referencing the intensifying attacks by Russia on Ukraine and reported casualties inside Russia, “the world simply cannot afford such danger to spiral out of control,” said Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča. Follow the meeting coverage live below, and UN News app users can click here.
Hostilities between Israeli forces and Hamas have led to the shuttering of almost half of all malnutrition centres in and around Gaza City, the northern area of the Strip where famine was declared a month ago.
The United Nations, African Union (AU) and European Union (EU) have reaffirmed their commitment to peace and sustainable development in Africa, pledging deeper cooperation to end conflicts, support stability and tackle global challenges from debt to climate change.
After nearly two years of war in Gaza, the suffering of its residents shows no sign of easing. As Israel launches a major ground offensive in the north of the enclave, attention once again turns to the United Nations.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres marked the International Day of Peace on Sunday with a stark warning that “our warring world is crying out for peace,” urging people everywhere to act now to silence guns, heal divisions and build hope.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres marked the International Day of Peace on Sunday with a stark warning that “our warring world is crying out for peace,” urging people everywhere to act now to silence guns, heal divisions and build hope.
The UN Secretary-General on Saturday voiced grave alarm at the rapidly deteriorating situation in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, warning of mounting risks to civilians trapped in the besieged city.
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At least 75 people have been killed, according to news reports, in a drone strike on a mosque during morning prayers in El Fasher city, in the west of the war-torn country.
A proposal to continue sanctions relief for Iran under the 2015 nuclear deal was rejected in the UN Security Council on Friday in a vote that revealed deep divisions over the so-called “snapback” process.
In the face of escalating Israeli military operations, thousands of Palestinian families continue to flee the northern Gaza Strip amid dire humanitarian conditions and transportation shortages.
The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Friday called on the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to refrain from further strikes and fully withdraw from Lebanese territory after Israeli strikes endangered peacekeepers and civilians overnight.
During a year of escalating global turmoil – from widening wars and economic hardship to the relentless advance of the climate crisis – the United Nations has held its ground, working to promote peace, drive sustainable development, and ease human suffering.
Secretary-General António Guterres has issued a stark call to world leaders on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly’s high-level week, warning that a “global crisis” of war, climate change, inequality and technological risk demands urgent, coordinated action.
The UN relief chief Tom Fletcher has highlighted recent diplomatic progress made towards a three-month pause to the brutal fighting in Sudan between rival militaries.
The United States once again vetoed a UN resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, following a vote in the Security Council on Thursday.
Syria’s tentative steps towards recovery could quickly unravel without inclusive politics, sustained aid and respect for national sovereignty, top UN officials cautioned the Security Council on Thursday.
The United States vetoed a draft resolution in the Security Council on Thursday put forward by its 10 non-permanent members demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza – and the immediate release of all hostages. Against the backdrop of rising famine it also demanded the lifting of Israeli restrictions on aid, calling on the occupying power to ensure safe and unhindered distribution to all in need. News app users can follow our live meetings coverage by going here.
The UN has welcomed Colombia’s first convictions under its transitional justice tribunal, calling sentences handed down to former rebel commanders “a crucial milestone on the path to accountability,” in the words of human rights chief Volker Türk.
Afghanistan is confronting “a perfect storm” of overlapping crises, the UN’s outgoing envoy warned the Security Council on Wednesday, as an Afghan women’s rights advocate told the body that Taliban policies amount to “gender apartheid” which are suffocating a whole generation of girls.
Amid reports of intensifying bombardment in Gaza City overnight, the Middle East crisis took centre stage at the UN on Tuesday, starting at the global body's Geneva headquarters, where Israel rejected allegations of genocide by an international panel of independent human rights investigators. The development came ahead of an urgent debate at the Human Rights Council prompted by Israeli strikes on Hamas political leadership last week in Doha. UN News app users can follow live here.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged world leaders to “get serious – and deliver” as they begin arriving in New York for the high-level week of the 80th General Assembly.
As bombs continue to fall on Gaza City as part of Israel’s intensifying military operation, families with starving children are being pushed southwards from one “hellscape” to another, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
Senior independent rights investigators appointed by the Human Rights Council alleged on Tuesday that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide, a charge flatly rejected by Tel Aviv.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called on Monday for countries to overcome the remaining obstacles to concluding the global pandemic treaty.
The United Nations has condemned the deadly Israeli military offensive in Gaza City that occurred this past weekend, Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Monday.
Yemen faces a surge of violence and hunger that threatens millions with starvation and risks destabilizing neighbouring countries. The crisis, deeply linked to wider regional conflicts, is straining humanitarian efforts and heightening tensions across the Middle East.
The Ukrainian conflict has recorded the highest confirmed death and injury toll from cluster munitions for the third year running, UN-backed researchers said on Monday.
The United Nations has sounded the alarm over Sudan’s spiralling crisis, warning that deadly attacks in El Fasher, the collapse of essential services, and mass displacement are pushing millions in Darfur and beyond closer to catastrophe.
At the start of the 69th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna on Monday, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi spoke about the nuclear challenges the world faces and called on States to “recommit” to non-proliferation.
