‘Stop Harming Children’, Speakers Warn Security Council, as Moscow, Kyiv Trade Barbs over Reported Drone Strike against Luhansk Student Dorm
In an emergency meeting requested by the Russian Federation following reports of an attack on a dormitory in the city of Starobilsk, the Security Council today heard that — while the United Nations is unable to confirm details of the strike — civilians continue to pay the cost of a war they did not start.
This meeting occurs as the UN’s ninth “Protection of Civilians Week” comes to a close, with the Council having already considered the plight of civilians affected by the conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and the wider Middle East earlier in the week. It also held a day-long open debate on the issue on 20 May, where it heard that civilians continue to suffer in conflicts around the world because of the choices made by parties to conflict.
‘Civilians Must Be Protected’
“Since we briefed this Council on Tuesday, more civilians have been killed,” said Edem Wosornu, Director of the Crisis Response Division in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. There have been reports of an attack on a college dormitory in Starobilsk in the Luhansk region, which reportedly caused scores of civilian casualties, including children. While noting that the situation is unfolding and much is unknown, she stressed: “What we do know is that the human cost of this war reveals a pattern that defies international humanitarian law. Civilians must be protected.”
She noted that a ballistic missile struck a warehouse contracted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Dnipro on the night of 19-20 May, killing two warehouse workers and destroying more than $1 million worth of aid — the fifth hit on humanitarian workers and assets in nine days. “This must stop,” she insisted. The obligation to protect civilians and objects binds all parties to this conflict, and both directed and indiscriminate attacks against them are strictly prohibited under international law.
“My asks to this Council are not new,” she said, urging it to use its influence to ensure respect for international law, protect civilians and ensure rapid, unimpeded humanitarian access to civilians in need “across all areas of Ukraine, including those under the control of the Russian Federation”. Calling for “concrete action” to protect civilians and ensure they receive aid, she stressed that people enduring these attacks “need more than statements of concern”.
“I urge all concerned parties to refrain from any actions that put children in harm’s way,” added Vanessa Frazier, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. While she noted that the UN cannot confirm details of the attack in Starobilsk as it lacks access to the area, she said the reported incident is a stark reminder of a broader pattern of attacks on educational facilities. “When schools are damaged or destroyed, the consequences extend far beyond the immediate loss” of infrastructure and life, she stressed.
Children Pay the Price of War
Recalling her recent visit to Ukraine, she said the war has impacted education on a massive scale. According to UN-verified information, over 440 attacks on schools occurred in 2025. She also visited the city of Belgorod in the Russian Federation, where children have been affected by conflict. In each of these places, she said, her message was the same: “Stop harming children.”
Underscoring that point, Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), noted that more than 3,400 children have now been killed or injured since the escalation of war in 2022, and millions of children in Ukraine continue to be affected by the hostilities. The reported dormitory attack is “yet another example of children paying the price for a war that is not of their own making”, he stressed.
Citing a 2025 UNICEF survey — according to which almost one third of Ukrainian teenagers report “feeling so bad or hopeless that it stopped them from doing their usual activities” — he added that “children and young people are exhausted”. Parties to the conflict must abide by their obligations to protect children, and humanitarian access must be ensured across Ukraine. “We need the unanimous support of this Council and Member States to use all of their leverage to facilitate a political dialogue that can help put an end to this war.”
Moscow Accuses Ukraine of War Crime, as Kyiv Denounces ‘Political Theatre’
As the floor opened for debate, the representative of the Russian Federation held up a photograph of the devastated building in question, which he said was directly targeted by a Ukrainian unit. Stressing that the attack “could not have been accidental”, he declared: “Under international humanitarian law, this constitutes a war crime.” He said that the dormitory was struck three times in succession and that there were no military installations of any kind in the area, adding that “children are still buried under the rubble”.
Ukraine’s representative, however, rejected these “baseless claims”, noting that they have not been independently verified. Further, they “belong to a textbook disinformation campaign from Moscow designed to deflect from its own war crimes and manipulate international public opinion”. Adding that his country’s Armed Forces only target military objectives, he underscored that Moscow is employing “mirror propaganda” to accuse Ukraine of “the exact war crimes that Moscow commits daily”.
Several Question Focus on ‘Single, Unverified’ Reports
Underscoring that “no asserted military advantage can justify the targeting of a dormitory where students sleep”, the representative of Liberia urged that the UN enjoys unfettered access to verify the circumstances of the alleged strike. Others, including the representative of Greece, did too. However, Latvia’s representative pointed out that the UN can verify casualties only in territories controlled by Ukraine as Kyiv provides unimpeded access, while Moscow denies it in the territories it temporarily occupies.
The United Kingdom’s representative also made that point. And, while deploring any loss of civilian life, he said that the Russian Federation has killed at least 170 Ukrainian civilians in May alone. Against that backdrop, Moscow’s decision to call today’s meeting on a single, unverified incident is revealing. “To apply the same logic behind Russia’s call for today’s meeting, we would need twice-daily emergency Security Council meetings — including on the weekends — to only scratch the surface of the terror, death and destruction inflicted across Ukraine by Russia,” stressed Denmark’s representative.
France’s representative also stated that the deaths of children are “always unacceptable”, calling for an independent investigation into what occurred on Ukrainian territory, which he stressed is “illegally occupied by the Russian Federation”. He also observed that Moscow called for today’s meeting despite daily “bombarding major Ukrainian cities with utter disregard for civilian lives”.
“When did we start to accept that childhood could become collateral damage time and again in modern warfare?” asked the representative of Panama, pointing out that extended conflict risks the “moral normalization of suffering”. Pakistan’s representative underscored that civilians must not be attacked in situations of armed conflict “anywhere”, calling for “purposeful efforts” to end this protracted conflict.
Calls for Restraint, Dialogue — and Priority Focus on Peace
The representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo said: “This new attack confirms the longer this war drags on, the more fragile the boundary between the battlefield and the civilian sphere becomes.” Today’s meeting, he added, provides yet another reminder of the urgent need for the Council to pursue de-escalation in Ukraine. The representative of China, Council President for May, spoke in his national capacity to highlight the need for “goodwill instead of hatred, de-escalation instead of heightened tensions”.
On that, the representative of the United States called on all parties to negotiate in good faith to end the violence pursuant to their duty to protect civilian lives. “The fact that I even have to note this highlights the obscene absurdity of our situation,” she stressed, citing her President’s philosophy of “getting it settled, so we stop killing all these people”.
“The priority must be peace,” stressed Colombia’s representative, calling for an immediate ceasefire — “not a symbolic one, but a real one” — as a first step to stop the violence and create conditions for a just and lasting peace. The latter requires compromises and confidence-building measures, said Somalia’s representative, and his counterpart from Bahrain urged diplomatic efforts to allow children to live “free from the effects of suffering and war”.
Verify, Verify, Verify
Taking the floor a second time, the representative of the Russian Federation recalled that Denmark’s representative was among those who called for access to verify the incident. “Do you need access to rubble?” he asked, also inquiring whether European Council members feel shame at their failure to mention “the dead children in Starobilsk”. This is “a form of dance on the bones of those who have perished”, he said, declaring: “This is disgusting to me.”
Responding, Denmark’s representative said that her delegation has consistently deplored attacks on civilians, which includes children. “So no,” she said, “we do not feel shame and, actually, yes we would like to have access because this is exactly what we demand in any situation in this chamber.”
She added: “We would like to have independent verification so we know what we are talking about.”