By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS –The UN Security Council meets Friday afternoon to discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, where recent attacks have left dozens dead or injured. A senior UN political affairs official is expected to brief on the situation
The Security Council today takes up maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine. Briefing the 15-member organ will be Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas. He is expected to focus on large-scale Russian Federation missile and drone attacks across Ukraine that have resulted in destruction and numerous civilian casualties.
As Russian Federation Continues Brutal Attacks, Ukraine’s People ‘Urgently Need Relief from this Nightmare’,Says Senior Official, Urging Ceasefire.
“With only one week since our last briefing to this Council on the situation in Ukraine, we are meeting again as the Russian Federation continues its brutal attacks across the country,” said Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas.
Overnight, between 30 and 31 July, another large-scale Russian missile and drone attack hit Kyiv. At least 31 people, including five children, were reportedly killed. 159 people, including at least 16 children, were reportedly injured.
The number of children injured in this attack was the highest in a single night in Kyiv since the beginning of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Ukrainian people have endured nearly three and a half years of unimaginable horrors, death, devastation and destruction, he said.
“They urgently need relief from this nightmare. We therefore reiterate our urgent call for an immediate, unconditional and complete ceasefire to pave the way towards a just, lasting and comprehensive peace.”
French envoy to the UN rejected “the repeated falsehoods that we hear from Russia in meeting after meeting”, France’s delegate said that “the facts are damning at the origin of this war: Russia’s decision to invade a sovereign country that posed no threat to it.”
He noted that the President of the United States issued a clear ultimatum to Moscow, urging it to engage in good-faith negotiations and bring an end to its war. Since then, the Russian Federation has struck Ukraine’s territory more than 3,400 times, resulting in more than 80 civilian deaths and wounding more than 300 on the night of 31 July to 1 August alone.
He urged the Council to act.
Slovenia representative told the council that instead of engaging on path to peace, Russian Federation
doubling its pressure on Ukrainian Civilians.
Slovenia’s representative said that reasons for the Russian Federation’s aggression keep changing, ranging from the situation of Russian minority, Ukrainian North Atlantic Treaty Organization aspirations, un specified security concerns to supposedly nationalistic orientation of Government and people.
“As per [the] UN Charter, none of these reasons can be a justification for aggression,” he declared.
Slovenia added that the aggression continues for the fourth year. With civilian casualties on the rise for months and with more firepower being used in the overnight aerial attacks, “2025 is rapidly becoming the deadliest year of this war”, he said.
“Instead of engaging on a path to peace, the Russian Federation is increasing its pressure on Ukrainian civilians.”
Russian Federation criticizes the Council members putting focus on Ukraine, and said that the strikes in compliance with humanitarian law.
Russia Deputy ambassador criticized the Council’s focus on Ukrainian issues, accused Western sponsors of Kyiv of undermined the 15-member organ’s credibility and wasting time by turning the first day of Panama’s presidency into a “Groundhog Day of sorts”.
He said that a Russian Federation strike on Ukrainian military targets on 31 July complied with international humanitarian law, attributing civilian casualties in Kyiv to the deployment of Ukrainian Air Defence forces in densely populated urban areas.
Deputy Ambassador accused Ukraine of targeting Russian civilians with drones, causing significant injuries and deaths.
South Korea envoy voiced that Moscow’s intensifying attacks on Ukrainian civilians a clear violation of international humanitarian law.
South Korea strongly condemned the indiscriminate and intensifying attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure by the Russian Federation.
He said that these attacks directly constitute clear violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, he said, appealing: “Civilians must be protected and should never be targeted.” Yet, time and time again.
The envoy appealed that “this is exactly what we see from the aggressor in this illicit, destructive, overlong war”.
He reiterated an urgent call for an immediate, full and unconditional cessation of all hostilities, noting with appreciation recent United States proposals calling for an expedited timeline to reach an agreement to end this war.
US delegate told the Council that Russia-Ukraine war should never have started’.
“The Russia-Ukraine war should never have started,” stressed the delegate at the meeting.
She added that, as the deadliest war in Europe since the Second World War, it continues to wreak “unconscionable death and destruction”.
“Amid Moscow’s intensified aerial assaults on Ukraine and the increasing toll on civilian life, on 29 July, United States President Donald J. Trump stated a peace deal must be done within 10 days. Otherwise, Washington, D.C., is prepared to implement additional measures to secure peace.
“President Trump is offering both Russia and Ukraine a way out of this conflict,” she said, imploring them “to take it”.
Ukrainian envoy said that Moscow ‘hears World’s Calls for Peace and Responds with Bloodshed’.
She called Russian Federation threat to entire civilized world.
“By all indicators, the Russian Federation is an undisputed aggressor,” said the envoy.
She cited full-scale military invasion, occupation of territories, cyber attacks on critical infrastructure and other offenses.
“This list is not just a tally of crimes – it’s a diagnosis of a regime that poses a threat to the entire civilized world,” she said.
She reported that Ukraine air defences intercepted most, but not all. Kyiv was the main target, with attacks also hitting Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Sumy and Mykolaiv regions. This attack was preceded by another one carried out two days earlier when Moscow bombed a prison facility and killed 16 people in the Zaporizhzhia region.
“These are deliberate acts of terror by a Moscow regime that hears the world’s calls for peace and responds with bloodshed,” she added.
She concluded “Once again, the world witnessed Russia’s response to our desire for peace shared with the United States and Europe with new killings, more destroyed homes”.
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