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As Russian Federation Continues Brutal Attacks against Ukraine, Senior Official, Briefing Security Council, Urges Dialogue, Immediate Ceasefire

Meetings Coverage
Security Council

9971st Meeting (PM)

SC/16134
1 August 2025

Meeting for the third time in a week amid the Russian Federation's intensified air strikes on Ukraine, the Security Council today heard urgent calls for diplomacy towards a ceasefire.

"Diplomacy, not fighting, needs to escalate in the coming days and weeks," said Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and Americas, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations.

Requested by Ukraine, today's meeting followed Council deliberations on 25 and 31 July, drawing renewed global attention to the escalating war. (For previous coverage, see Press Releases SC/16128 and SC/16133, respectively).

Mr. Jenča reiterated an urgent call for "an immediate, unconditional and complete ceasefire to pave the way towards a just, lasting and comprehensive peace" — a peace that is in line with the Charter of the United Nations, international law and relevant UN resolutions in full respect of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders.

He noted that the 15-member organ is meeting again as the Russian Federation continues its brutal attacks across Ukraine. Between 30 and 31 July, yet another large-scale Russian missile and drone attack hit Kyiv. At least 31 people, including 5 children, were reportedly killed, while 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 the city since the beginning of the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion," he reported, deploring: "These most recent terrible and devastating attacks follow a deadly wave of daily, relentless Russian air strikes". On the night of 28 July and the early hours of 29 July, at least 25 people were reportedly killed and dozens more injured across Ukraine.

In total, 13,580 civilians, including 716 children, were killed, and 34,115 civilians, including 2,173 children, injured from the start of the Russian Federation's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 until 30 June 2025, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Disturbingly, OHCHR has also recorded credible allegations of the execution of 106 Ukrainian soldiers captured by the Russian Federation armed forces between late August 2024 and May 2025, he added.

The United Nations continued to see reports of civilian casualties, including civilian deaths in the Russian Federation's Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk and Rostov regions, he said.

According to the Russian federation authorities, in the Belgorod region, between 25 and 29 July, at least two civilians were reportedly killed and seven others were wounded because of drone and missile strikes. "While the United Nations is not in a position to verify these reports, we remain concerned about the increasing impact of the reported Ukrainian strikes on the civilian population in the Russian Federation," he said.

"By all indicators", said the representative of Ukraine, "the Russian Federation is an undisputed aggressor", citing its full-scale military invasion, occupation of territories, cyberattacks 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, stating that this is why her delegation requested today's meeting.

She reported that her country's air defences intercepted most of the Russian Federation's air strikes on 31 July, but not all. Kyiv was the main target, with attacks also hitting Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Sumy and Mykolaiv regions. This attack was preceded by another terrorist act carried out two days earlier when Moscow bombed a prison facility and killed 16 people in the Zaporizhzhia region, not by mistake. They knew civilians were inside, she added.

"These are deliberate acts of terror by a Moscow regime that hears the world's calls for peace and responds with bloodshed," she said, adding: "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".

Poland's delegate said that today's meeting — the third in a week — reflects both "the momentum of international engagement" and "the extent of Russia's determination to continue this brutal war against the people of Ukraine". The speaker for Greece said that "the war in Ukraine has reached an inflection point". "While Ukraine continues to set out its willingness to move towards peace, [Russian Federation President Vladimir V.] Putin's response is to kill more innocent civilians," observed the United Kingdom's delegate.

"Civilians must be protected and should never be targeted," said the representative of the Republic of Korea. Yet, time and time again, he deplored, "this is exactly what we see from the aggressor in this illicit, destructive, overlong war".

"The images from Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities are harrowing," said the representative of the European Union in its capacity as observer. "We cannot become numb to these images, to the suffering they convey, nor can we allow Russia's behaviour to be condoned," added the representative of Denmark. "Once again, Russia is showing its true colours — it does not want peace, but rather a complete annihilation of Ukraine," said Lithuania's delegate, speaking also for Estonia and Latvia.

His counterpart from the Russian Federation criticized the Council's focus on Ukrainian issues, accusing Kyiv's Western sponsors of undermining the organ's credibility and wasting time by turning the first day of Panama's presidency into a "Groundhog Day of sorts". The abuse of the Council meetings to shift the responsibility for the death of its own citizens is "a favourite trick of Ukrainian State propaganda", he added.

He said that his country's air strikes 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. He also accused Ukraine of targeting Russian civilians with drones, causing significant injuries and deaths. "All of these facts are carefully ignored by Kiev and its backers," he said, adding that Secretariat staff from relevant UN agencies pretend they know nothing about this, or say it's impossible to verify the information about Ukrainian crimes.

"The Russia-Ukraine war should never have started and would not have under President [Donald J.] Trump's leadership," stressed the delegate of the United States. Citing the President's pronouncement that a peace deal must be done within 10 days, she urged the two sides "to take it".

"The Ukraine crisis is in a crucial phase," observed China's delegate, urging the warring parties to build greater consensus and make efforts towards a political solution. Beijing, he said, will continue to play "a constructive role" in resolving the Ukraine crisis.

Many speakers expressed firm support for Ukraine, with Slovenia's delegate warning that the Russian Federation's aggression continues for the fourth year. With civilian casualties on the rise for months and more firepower being used in the overnight aerial attacks, "2025 is rapidly becoming the deadliest year of this war", he said.

Rejecting "the repeated falsehoods that we hear from Russia in meeting after meeting", France's representative 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 cautioned that despite President Trump's clear ultimatum, Moscow has since struck Ukraine's territory more than 3,400 times, resulting in at least 80 civilian deaths and wounding more than 300 between the night of 31 July and 1 August alone.

Guyana's delegate said that the month of August holds profound significance for Ukrainians. In three weeks, they will celebrate their thirty-fourth independence anniversary — an occasion meant to be a time of celebration and reflection, and one where they reaffirm their right, as a nation, to freely determine their political status and pursue economic, social and cultural development without external interference.

Highlighting the war's impact on trade, Algeria's representative said that the current situation could drag the region into a spiral of conflict and crisis, "which unfortunately will be reflected around the world, particularly in developing countries that have been and continue to be affected by turbulence on the food and energy markets". Meanwhile, Sierra Leone's delegate spotlighted the plight of children. With over 1,600 educational facilities damaged or destroyed, access to education has been severely curtailed, further compounded by disruptions to online learning due to repeated attacks on energy infrastructure.

Pakistan's representative noted with consternation that the diplomatic efforts at the start of the year, including resolution 2774 (2025), multiple rounds of negotiations between the Russian Federation and Ukraine and the limited ceasefire understandings between the parties are "yet to translate into meaningful progress" that could lead to cessation of hostilities. On that, Somalia's delegate said that "dialogue and diplomacy are the sole means to bring an end to this long-standing conflict and achieving sustainable peace".

Panama's representative, Council President for August, speaking in his national capacity, warned against turning the organ into a convenient platform to launch successive accusations endlessly "as if it were a game of ping pong". "The world does not need more statements, but tangible results," he emphasized.