On day seven of the Ukraine crisis, UN-led efforts to ramp up support to the country’s embattled health workers have continued, with the first shipment of lifesaving supplies due to arrive in neighbouring Poland in the coming hours.
On day seven of the Ukraine crisis, UN-led efforts to ramp up support to the country’s embattled health workers have continued, with the first shipment of lifesaving supplies due to arrive in neighbouring Poland in the coming hours.
The conflict in Ukraine could put the safety of nuclear facilities there at risk, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned on Wednesday.
The number of people fleeing the Russian onslaught in Ukraine surpassed 874,000 as of Wednesday morning New York time, data from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has revealed.
Rockets have been “raining down” on Ukraine’s cities and hundreds of people have been killed or injured since the Russian military offensive began, the UN Secretary-General said on Tuesday, at the launch of a $1.7 billion flash appeal to provide urgently-needed assistance.
Well over 600,000 people have fled Ukraine in under a week, since Russia’s military offensive began, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, as they issued an appeal to protect civilians from further bloodshed.
After three days of intense clashes across areas in parts of Ukraine, the number of civilian casualties and damage to critical infrastructure are growing, and the United Nations and its relief partners are working day and night to care for the injured, the Security Council heard on Monday during an urgent meeting on the humanitarian situation in the country.
The intensification of the Russian offensive in Ukraine is having devastating consequences on women and children, senior UN officials have reported.
Impunity for the use of chemical weapons is “intolerable,” the UN disarmament chief told the Security Council meeting on Syria, held on Monday morning.
As fighting escalates in Ukraine, UN Member States met on Monday for a rare emergency special session of the General Assembly to discuss the crisis.
Fighting in Ukraine has so far pushed roughly a half million people across the country's borders, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported on Monday.
Fighting in Ukraine has so far pushed more than 500,000 people across the country's borders, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported on Monday.
The Security Council voted on Sunday to call for a rare emergency special session of the 193-member UN General Assembly on Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, which will be held on Monday.
Even before the recent events that “convulsed the world” last week, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator reminded that an eight-year-long conflict in Eastern Ukraine had already level three million people in need of humanitarian assistance “on both sides of the contact line”.
Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Friday that would have demanded that Moscow immediately stop its aggression against Ukraine and withdraw all troops, a move several Council members said was deplorable, but inevitable.
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Perpetrators responsible for recent escalating violence in Unity state, South Sudan, must be held accountable, the UN Mission in the country, UNMISS, said in a statement on Friday.
As the Syrian war has driven poverty and hunger to levels higher than at any previous point, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Friday that he would continue to focus on engaging the parties to bring an end to the protracted conflict.
Amid reported deadly missile attacks from Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine, including the capital Kiev and other cities, terrified families have been forced to seek shelter underground, the UN said on Friday, adding that at least 100,000 people have likely been displaced by the violence.
Amid reported deadly missile attacks from Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine, including the capital Kiev and other cities, terrified families have been forced to seek shelter underground, the UN said on Friday, adding that at least 100,000 people have likely been displaced by the violence.
Political leaders in Iraq must urgently overcome their divisions and work for the good of the people, the top UN official in the country told the Security Council on Thursday.
Russian military operations inside the sovereign territory of Ukraine “on a scale that Europe has not seen in decades, conflict directly with the United Nations Charter,” Secretary-General António Guterres told journalists on Thursday.
Amid reports on Thursday that people were fleeing en masse from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev following Russia’s so-called “special military operation,” UN humanitarians warned of the “devastating” consequences of military action.
“President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine, give peace a chance,” Secretary-General António Guterres urged Wednesday evening at the start of an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, the body's second late night session this week.
Mr. President,
Earlier today, the so-called authorities of the “Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics” requested military assistance from the Russian Federation.
Also today, the Ukrainian authorities declared a nationwide state of emergency and announced other related defense and security measures, including the mobilization of reservists.
Throughout the day we have seen disturbing reports of continued heavy shelling across the contact line and civilian and military casualties. There are also reports of the repeated targeting of civilian infrastructure.
This evening, different media are carrying reports of an ongoing large-scale military buildup and of military columns moving towards Ukraine. The Russian Federation has also reportedly shut airspace to civilian aircraft near the border with Ukraine.
The UN cannot verify any of these reports. But if these developments were confirmed, they would greatly aggravate an already dangerous situation.
The Ukrainian authorities are also reporting a new large-scale cyber-attack targeting several state and financial institutions.
Mr. President,
President Zelenskyy earlier this evening called for continued diplomacy. Separately, President Putin also spoke about his continued readiness to engage in dialogue.
We encourage such efforts, even at this late hour.
Mr. President,
UN staff remain on the ground to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine. We are committed to staying and delivering. All parties must ensure their safety and security. Respect for international humanitarian law and international human rights law is also paramount.
We cannot predict exactly what will happen in the coming hours and days in Ukraine. What is clear is the unacceptably high cost – in human suffering and destruction – of an escalation.
The people of Ukraine want peace. And I’m certain the people of Russia want peace. We must do everything in our power to ensure that peace prevails.
The destabilizing deterioration of the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory continues in the absence of political solutions that would “reset the trajectory”, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said on Wednesday.
The United Nations will work together with the authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as well as other partners, in ensuring security in the eastern part of the country, said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN’s top peacekeeping official.
The world is facing “a moment of peril,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told a General Assembly session on Wednesday dedicated to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
The latest developments in Ukraine are testing “the entire international system”, Secretary-General António Guterres said at a media stakeout on Tuesday, adding “we must pass this test.”
Local elections in the Central African Republic (CAR), which have been pending since 1988 and are slated for September, will deepen efforts to decentralize power and expand political space, the UN envoy for the country told the Security Council on Tuesday, encouraging the new Government to “deploy all possible efforts” to calm the political climate.
Following Russia’s decision to recognize the independence of certain areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday added her voice to the UN’s growing chorus of alarm.
Weapons exports to the military rulers in Myanmar by UN Member States must stop, the UN independent expert on the human rights situation in the country said on Tuesday.
Mr. President,
It is with great concern and sadness that I brief the Council this evening on the unfolding dangerous situation in and around Ukraine.
In his statement today, the Secretary-General was clear: He considers the decision of the Russian Federation to recognize the independence of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to be a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and inconsistent with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. We very much regret this decision, which risks having regional and global repercussions.
We also regret the order today to deploy Russian troops into eastern Ukraine, reportedly on a “peacekeeping mission”.
These developments follow the decision to order a mass evacuation of civilian residents of Donetsk and Luhansk into the Russian Federation.
We are concerned by the escalating shelling across the contact line, reportedly leading to a number of casualties. OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission has recorded a total of 3,231 ceasefire violations in the Donbas area from 18-20 February: 1,073 ceasefire violations, including 926 explosions in the Luhansk region, and 2,158 ceasefire violations, including 1,100 explosions, in Donetsk region.
We remind all involved of their responsibilities under international humanitarian law and human rights law.
Although the United Nations is not in a position to verify the numerous claims and allegations made by various actors, we are deeply concerned about the reports of civilian casualties, targeting of critical civilian infrastructure, and ongoing evacuations.
Mr. President,
We are extremely concerned about the possible implications of the latest developments for the existing negotiation frameworks. Amid the current risks and uncertainty, it is even more important to pursue dialogue.
Negotiation is the only way to address the existing differences among the key actors regarding regional security issues, and the settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine in accordance with Security Council resolution 2202 (2015).
Before the current, already dangerous conditions escalate further, we call on all relevant actors to focus their efforts on an immediate cessation of hostilities. Civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected, and actions and statements that may worsen the situation must be avoided.
Over the past few weeks, key actors have been engaged in intense diplomatic efforts to avert a new eruption of conflict in the heart of Europe. The Secretary-General fully supports these efforts and has deplored even the possibility that a new conflict could break out.
Mr. President,
We are committed to our long-term partnership with Ukraine – a founding member of the United Nations – as it continues to pursue the democratic reform agenda 30 years after independence.
And once again we reiterate the full commitment of the United Nations to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders, in accordance with General Assembly resolutions.
Throughout the eight years of conflict in eastern Ukraine, the United Nations has continued to provide life-saving humanitarian support to all in need as well as human rights-related work. During this difficult period, we are committed to stay and deliver and remain fully operational in Ukraine, including in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The safety and security of all our staff must be respected by all parties.
Mr. President,
The next hours and days will be critical. The risk of major conflict is real and needs to be prevented at all costs. I can assure you of the full commitment of the Secretary-General to work toward a diplomatic resolution of the current crisis.
Thank you, Mr. President
With “great concern and sadness”, the UN political and peacebuilding chief opened an emergency Security Council meeting on Monday night on the “unfolding dangerous situation in and around Ukraine”.
Students have returned to the Lycée National de La Saline after it was closed due to gang violence.
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Attacks on kindergartens and schools have been a sad reality for children in eastern Ukraine over the last eight years, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, said on Friday. Since the beginning of the conflict, more than 750 schools have been damaged.
Despite some signs of progress in ending the political, economic and humanitarian crisis that has worsened across Haiti since the assassination of its president last year, the situation there remains “fraught and highly polarized”, the UN envoy to the country told the Security Council on Friday.
Thousands of Eritrean refugees sheltering at a camp in the Ethiopian Afar region, have fled following a deadly attack on the facility earlier this month, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.
With tensions continuing to mount over the Ukraine crisis, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday that he still believed military conflict in Europe “will not happen” – although if it did, “it would be catastrophic”.
Amid competing narratives of events unfolding swiftly in and around Ukraine - one detailing the withdrawal of Russian troops from the borders and another proclaiming that an attack is imminent – the UN political affairs chief called on Thursday for the parties to make meaningful progress on implementation of the 2015 Minsk agreements, as she briefed the Security Council.
