Baku, July 27, AZERTAC
The UN warned Monday that continued hostilities in Ukraine are inflicting mounting harm on civilians, damaging critical infrastructure and threatening wider global food and energy security, according to Anadolu Agency.
"Since this Council last met two and a half weeks ago, civilians have again been killed and injured. Homes reduced to rubble. Electricity and water cut. United Nations warehouses and other humanitarian facilities damaged, destroying aid meant for civilians," Indrika Ratwatte, acting assistant-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and deputy emergency relief coordinator, told the Security Council.
He said humanitarian organizations continued responding across Ukraine despite the worsening conditions, but stressed that their ability to operate should not be mistaken for acceptance of the situation.
"Each round of attacks brings renewed harm to civilians. More families grieve. More homes are damaged. More essential services are cut. More communities are forced to put recovery on hold," Ratwatte said.
"For many communities, this is now the fourth summer spent under the shadow of continued hostilities, while fearful about the winter to come. For others, the suffering has lasted even longer," he added.
Ratwatte said that although the dangers facing civilians and the way humanitarian organizations work had changed during the conflict, the obligations of the parties under international humanitarian law remained unchanged.
"Wherever the parties take their military operations, civilians, including humanitarians, must be protected," he said.
"The responsibility to spare civilians and meet their essential needs rests with the parties to the conflict. Those with influence over them have a responsibility as well. International humanitarian law is not optional," Ratwatte noted.
Kayoko Gotoh, director of the Europe and Central Asia Division for the UN Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, said more than 170 civilians had reportedly been killed and 1,028 injured across Ukraine since the Council's previous briefing on July 9 as a result of intensified Russian aerial attacks.
In July alone, at least 56 civilians were reportedly killed and 232 injured in Kyiv, she said.
Gotoh said the UN human rights office verified that at least 16,431 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia's war, including 803 children, while 48,613 others, including 2,960 children, had been injured.
She also cited 1,846 civilian casualties reported by local authorities in Russia during the first half of the year, a 121% increase from the same period in 2025.
Warning of wider consequences, Gotoh said attacks on ports and cargo ships could threaten food and energy supplies and raise costs for vulnerable countries.
"We must not allow this dangerous escalatory spiral to continue," she said, underscoring the urgent need for renewed diplomatic efforts.