Diplomacy towards Full Ukraine-Russian Federation Ceasefire Key amid Rising Civilian Deaths, Attacks on Historic Monuments, Top UN Officials Tell Security Council
From increasing numbers of civilians killed to historic monuments damaged, the high cost of the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine makes diplomatic efforts towards a full ceasefire imperative, the Security Council heard today from the UN’s senior political and humanitarian officers.
Since the start of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, at least 16,126 civilians, including 796 children, have been killed in Ukraine, Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, said.
Most recently, on 15 June, the Russian Federation launched yet another massive strike hitting Kyiv and several regions of Ukraine with dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones. He also highlighted damage to historic sites such as an eleventh-century Dormition Cathedral, a Ukrainian spiritual and cultural landmark.
The war is impacting civilians in territories of Ukraine under the temporary occupation of the Russian Federation — including in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol — as well as in the Russian Federation. Highlighting several incidents, he noted that on 18 June, 17 people, including children, were reportedly injured in a Ukrainian drone strike — the largest such strike targeting Moscow and surrounding areas since the start of the war. According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), last month at least 274 civilians were killed and 1,763 injured in Ukraine.
Noting the forthcoming annual Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, Poland, he added: “Recovery will only be sustainable if it is anchored in a broader vision for peace.” He called for a full ceasefire and meaningful negotiations for a comprehensive peace in Ukraine.
“The choices made [in the Council] can mean lives saved or lives lost,” Edem Wosornu, Director of the Crisis Response Division in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said. She called on the organ to ensure that all parties comply with international human rights law obligations. Her other ask was for timely, flexible funding, noting that aid space is shrinking. Without it, “the consequences fall on the most vulnerable and least able to move out of harm’s way”, she said.
More Short-Range, First-Person View Drones Fuelling Death Toll
Since the Council’s last briefing on Ukraine, “more families have been forced to endure the all-too-familiar pattern of this war — attacks, destruction, loss, another night without safety”, she added. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recorded more civilians killed and injured by short-range drones in May 2026 than in any month since February 2022. Cheap, first-person-view drones are causing widespread civilian harm along the front line, and, she noted, they are equipped with cameras “that let the operators see exactly what they are striking”.
Also expressing concern over reported civilian harm in the Russian Federation, she said the absence of a UN monitoring presence there “does not diminish the seriousness of these reports”. She, too, highlighted the 15 June strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv which left more than 100,000 households without power, hit rescuers responding to initial attacks and damaged a World Heritage Site monastery.
Kyiv to Moscow: Leave Ukraine before It Is Too Late
The representative of Ukraine described the Russian strike against the Dormition Cathedral as “not only a stab in the back of Ukrainians” but “a slap in the face of the entire civilized world”. He urged Council members to imagine if Westminster Abbey or Notre Dame were deliberately targeted. “Mr. Putin has secured his place among the darkest figures of modern history,” he said, adding that the Russian Federation also intentionally damaged another iconic Ukrainian landmark, the Dovzhenko Film Studio, “our Hollywood”.
Turning to the Secretary-General’s report on children and armed conflict, he said that the Russian Federation has been listed for four consecutive years for grave violations against Ukrainian children. “Russia belongs to the exclusive club of murderers of children and perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence,” he said.
For 15 months, Ukraine has called for a full and unconditional ceasefire, but its patience is not endless, he said, stressing that a ceasefire along the current front line is already a significant compromise. “If the Security Council would further choose a wait-and-see approach, I cannot exclude that Ukraine may recalibrate and modify its offer.” To the Russian representative, he said: “You will never hold the occupied lands. Leave Ukraine before it is too late.”
Moscow: West’s True Objective Is Not Peace
However, the Russian Federation’s delegate said that her country’s special military operation is steadily achieving its stated objectives as its armed forces continue to liberate territories. Further, her country’s attacks on the night of 14 and 15 June, were in response to terrorist acts committed by the Kyiv regime, she said, adding that the strikes used long-range precision weapons and targeted only military and military-industrial facilities.
The statements at the Group of Seven summit in France demonstrate that the West’s true objective is not peace, “but to drag out the conflict to the last Ukrainian”, she said. As a result, she said, Ukraine has “transformed into a testing ground for testing UAVs and Western weapons, a hub for mercenaries and international terrorists and foreign terrorist fighters”, as well as a narcotics hub and “a giant laboratory for studying various kinds of pathogens”.
She also rejected statements about her country attacking the Dormition Cathedral as propaganda, adding that the debris as displayed by Kyiv, featuring a rusted engine, appears more like a stage prop. “We couldn’t have struck the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, which is a sacred site for all Orthodox Christians,” she said.
Moscow Using War Crimes to Erase Ukraine’s Rich History
“Russia wants to erase the rich history of the Ukrainian nation,” said Latvia’s representative. Questioning how a country which associates itself with Orthodox Christianity could deliberately target one of the oldest and most sacred Orthodox monasteries in Kyiv, he suggested that its symbolic importance and age — predating Moscow — may explain the attack.
Noting damage to the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra — targeted “only twice during its thousand-year history” — the representative of Greece added that, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), over 536 cultural sites have been damaged in Ukraine since the start of Moscow’s aggression. She stressed that deliberate attacks on protected cultural heritage sites “constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity”.
Poland’s delegate added that by striking Pechersk Lavra, a leading centre of Eastern Christianity, the Russian Federation further undermines its own narrative about its role as a guardian of Orthodoxy and a defender against “faith enemies” and the “rotten West”.
France’s representative said that attacks against Ukraine’s cultural heritage violate the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. His counterpart from Denmark said that the Russian Federation’s attacks are aimed at not only destroying a sovereign and independent State but also erasing its memory, history, and identity.
European Union: Moscow Doesn’t Seem to Care
The speaker for the European Union, in its capacity as observer, noted that the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine has now lasted longer than the First World War. He wondered aloud: “That is some shocking statistic for a mere ‘special military operation’, isn’t it?” Moscow “doesn’t seem to care”, he added, about its growing war deaths, violations of international law or UN findings that its armed forces have committed grave violations against children and conflict-related sexual violence. Because the Russian Federation does not care about these “damning” facts, he stressed, “there is no alternative than ensuring that it stops”.
The representative of the United Kingdom also highlighted the Russian Federation’s “familiar pattern of destruction followed by denial and disinformation”.
Implement Arrest Warrants against Vladimir Putin, Mariel Vollavilova
The representative of Estonia, speaking on behalf of the Baltic States, called for implementation of the International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin and Mariel Vollavilova for unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children. He also urged support for the establishment of a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, in line with the Council of Europe’s 15 May resolution. The tribunal should become operational without delay and send a clear message that aggression has legal consequences.
“The United States supports Ukraine,” declared the former country’s representative, expressing his country’s commitment to reaching a ceasefire. Quoting a recent statement by his President, he said: “Russia should make a deal; time is not on Moscow’s side.” That country is sustaining 40,000 casualties a month amidst a severely strained economy, while Ukraine is innovating quickly. “Diplomacy and negotiation — not more bloodshed — are the only answer,” he stressed, urging Moscow and Kyiv to “get a peace deal done”.
China’s representative said that the growing hostility between the parties, coupled with an escalating spiral of military confrontation, present “a highly dangerous trend”. Underlining the need for dialogue, he called on the parties to work towards a “balanced, effective and sustainable regional security architecture so as to ensure lasting peace and stability in Europe”.
Prioritize Diplomacy, Respect for International Law
Several speakers stressed the need for diplomacy, with the representatives of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Pakistan and Bahrain calling on the parties to protect civilians and prioritize diplomatic rather than military solutions. The representative of Colombia, Council President for June, spoke in her national capacity to express concern about “confrontational narratives that continue to harden positions and make it more difficult to reach an understanding”.
Panama’s delegate called for full respect for international law, as he highlighted the drone attack that occurred on 18 June against a Panamanian-flagged vessel in the Black Sea, and reiterated the importance of ensuring maritime security. Joining the call for diplomacy and respect for international law and humanitarian law was the representative of Liberia. He called on the Council to ensure that parties to the conflict honour their international human rights law obligations. “Expressions of sympathy are no substitute for compliance,” he added.