The UN Security Council held a session on the war in Ukraine on Friday, aimed mainly at targeting Russia as the villain, particularly with respect to Russia’s recent intensification of its drone and missile campaign against the Kiev regime. Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, said that Russian Federation attacks have reached “a new horrifying level,” with more than 100 civilians killed and at least 429 injured this week alone, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), reported a UN News summary of the session.
To his credit, Khiari did also voice concern over rising civilian casualties from Ukrainian attacks inside the Russian Federation, where OHCHR recorded reports of 496 civilians killed and 339 injured between January and September. “All attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur, are a violation of international humanitarian law and must end immediately,” he asserted.
“The current cycle of escalating attacks against civilians must end now,” he insisted, urging a “full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire” leading to a just, comprehensive and lasting peace. “It is time to end this war.”
Gemma Connell, Director of the Crisis Response Division in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, speaking on behalf of Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, warned that “the past 48 hours have brought more death and destruction across Ukraine.” Attacks on residential buildings, passenger buses and essential infrastructure have killed families, including children, and disrupted electricity and water supplies. “Each attack brings more suffering,” she said, warning that repeated strikes threaten to turn an already dire humanitarian situation into something far worse as winter approaches.
The UNSC member statements following the statements by UN officials were all condemnatory, except for Russia’s. Ukraine’s delegate said, “Russia’s missile terror against the civilian population has reached an unprecedented level of brutality and casualties,” with September and early October marking “new depths of barbarity.” Moscow’s objective is to make Kyiv unlivable, he asserted, pointing to strikes on bridges—lifelines connecting civilians to hospitals, food and safety—intended “to make normal life impossible.”
