As Ukraine celebrates Independence Day, six months after being invaded by Russia, senior United Nations officials on Wednesday offered a bleak assessment of the situation in the war-torn country.
Ukraine’s vulnerability was visibly relieved when President Volodymyr Zelensky, addressing the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday, announced during the session that a railway station in eastern Ukraine had been closed. targeted during a Russian missile attack. He later said the attack had left at least 22 people dead and 50 injured.
Zelensky told the Security Council via a video link: “There are no war crimes that the Russian occupiers have not committed on the territory of Ukraine. “If Russia doesn’t stop in Ukraine now, if not stopped by Ukraine’s victory then all these Russian killers will probably go to other countries.”
Speaking before Mr Zelensky informed the Council of the rail attack, António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, told the Council that the six-month period of the war was a “tragic milestone” in a conflict in which thousands of civilians, including hundreds of children, were killed and wounded and millions of Ukrainians were displaced.
“The world has seen serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed with little or no accountability,” Mr. Guterres said.
Rosemary DiCarlo, UN peace-building and political affairs officer, gave a stark update on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Over the past six months, the United Nations has recorded 13,560 civilian casualties here, of which 5,614 were killed and 7,946 injured, DiCarlo said. The true toll of civilians killed and wounded could be much higher. Ukraine itself has also reported that tens of thousands of people have died in Russian bombardments and other attacks.
At least 17.7 million people, or 40% of Ukraine’s population, need humanitarian assistance and protection, including 3.3 million children, she said.
Mr. DiCarlo warned that, as winter approaches, the devastation caused by war, combined with the lack of access to fuel or electricity due to damaged infrastructure, “could become a life-threatening problem. death.”
Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, said Wednesday’s session ignored facts on the ground, engaged in appreciating Russia and showed “Western countries’ unrelenting support for any actions of the Kyiv regime”.
