Ukraine

Scores of Ukrainian children remain missing after being deported across Russia and occupied territories, while their families continue to search for them, according to human rights investigators. On Thursday, members of the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, an independent probe into Russia’s full-scale invasion, presented their latest report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, United Nations officials reflected on the immense human cost of the conflict, appealing to the world to “never get used to war”. The invasion on February 24, 2022, shattered the peaceful aspirations of an entire continent, but war must never be the new normal, said Annalena Baerbock, President of the UN General Assembly, on Tuesday.

Delegates from over 120 countries gathered in Geneva on Monday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), amidst escalating global instability and conflict. Recognizing the dizzying geopolitical uncertainty marked by ongoing conflict and war in Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan, Ukraine, and beyond, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the HRC members to hold the line on human rights, which he warned were under a "full-scale attack."

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched its 2026 Global Health Emergency Appeal on Tuesday to ensure that millions of people living in humanitarian crises and conflicts have access to healthcare. The appeal seeks nearly US$1 billion to respond to 36 emergencies worldwide, including the world’s most severe crises, ranging from sudden-onset to protracted crises where health needs are critical.

As the war approaches its fifth year, the UN and its humanitarian partners on Tuesday launched the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP), which calls for US$2.3 billion to provide life-saving aid to more than 4 million people across Ukraine. An estimated 10.8 million people in Ukraine will require humanitarian assistance this year, including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other populations affected by the war.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), hostilities in Ukraine this weekend resulted in additional civilian casualties and widespread damage to critical infrastructure.  Between Friday and early Monday morning, Ukrainian authorities reported that more than a dozen civilians were killed and over 70 others were injured, including two children. Disruptions to basic services were reported in over 270 towns and villages.

The United Nations and its aid partners launched their 2026 global humanitarian appeal on Monday to raise a total of US$33 billion to support 135 million people in need through 23 country operations and six plans for refugees and migrants. The appeal aims to save millions of lives in some of the world's most crisis-stricken regions, including those affected by war, hunger, climate disasters, earthquakes, and epidemics.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the UN and its partners are continuing to deliver critical aid across Ukraine, despite the increasing risks to humanitarian workers. On Wednesday, a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse was damaged in a drone attack on the city of Dnipro.

The United Nations’ top aid official in Ukraine expressed concern on Friday about the “continuous attacks” on energy production sites and distribution facilities. The heavy humanitarian and psychological toll of these Russian strikes is compounded by the expectation that this winter will be much colder than last year and that the rate of destruction of energy infrastructure may exceed the recovery rate.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk on Friday warned that three and a half years after Russia’s full-scale invasion, the war in Ukraine has entered an even more dangerous and deadly stage for Ukrainian civilians, under relentless bombardment of their schools, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure. Türk said that the "war needs to end" as the human toll on civilians and soldiers and their families is "staggering and heartbreaking."

A new shocking record of 383 aid workers killed in 2024 must be a wake-up call to protect all civilians in conflict and crisis, and to end impunity, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday, marking World Humanitarian Day. Most of the aid workers killed last year were national staff members who were attacked in the line of duty or in their homes while serving their communities.

According to the United Nations, devastating Russian missile and drone strikes have killed and injured hundreds of Ukrainian civilians this month, continuing a pattern of relentless attacks far from the front lines. This comes after June saw the highest monthly number of civilian deaths and injuries in three years, with over 230 people killed and more than 1,340 injured.

According to a new United Nations report, the violence against children in armed conflict reached unprecedented levels in 2024. Children bore the brunt of relentless hostilities, indiscriminate attacks, disregard for ceasefires and peace agreements, and deepening humanitarian crises. As conflicts raging across the globe kill, maim, starve, or rape children, 22,495 children were verified as victims.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concludes in a new report released Wednesday that Russian armed forces have committed crimes against humanity by murdering civilians with drones. The report states that the drone attacks have been widespread and systematic, and have been conducted as part of a coordinated state policy. These findings come as Russian airstrikes continue to kill and maim civilians, including children, and destroy civilian infrastructure.

The United Nations has condemned a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday that reportedly killed at least 35 people, including two children, and injured at least 117 others, including 15 children. The two missiles hit a busy street in the center of the city in the northeast of the country, damaging residential buildings, an educational institution and civilian vehicles as people were out celebrating Palm Sunday, a major religious holiday in Ukraine.

Death, injury and permanent family separation are among the traumatic events that have upended the lives of Ukraine's children in the three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country, according to a report by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) released on Friday, as a high-level independent inquiry into the invasion also delivered its latest mandated report to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on Wednesday.

February 24, 2025, marks three years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has left more than 42,000 people dead or wounded. Humanitarian needs remain critical across the country, as lives and communities are devastated by attacks on civilian infrastructure. The civilian population continues to be at risk from relentless Russian attacks, particularly on the eastern and southern frontlines.

In the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Thursday, United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi launched the humanitarian and refugee response plans for 2025. The UN is appealing for $3.3 billion to provide humanitarian assistance to 8.2 million of the 14.9 million Ukrainians whose lives have been upended by Russia's invasion of their country nearly three years ago.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) released its annual Emergency Watchlist on Wednesday, spotlighting the 20 countries most likely to face escalating humanitarian needs in the coming year. According to the dire ranking, the top five crises are Sudan, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Myanmar, Syria and South Sudan, as war and climate change fuel new and ongoing humanitarian emergencies around the world.

The year is not yet over, but 2024 has already become the deadliest on record for humanitarian workers, with the war in Gaza driving up the numbers, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday, citing data from the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD). The grim milestone was reached with the recorded deaths of 281 aid workers globally, surpassing the previous record of 2023.

In the nearly 1,000 days since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, thousands of civilians have been killed, the country's energy capacity is on the brink, and drones are terrifying frontline communities, the UN's top aid official in the country said on Friday. Speaking in Geneva, Matthias Schmale warned that winter posed a critical challenge and described the anguish felt by Ukrainians as the war rages on.

July saw the highest number of civilian casualties in Ukraine since October 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said on Friday. Coordinated attacks by Russian forces across Ukraine on July 8, which killed dozens of people in a single day, made last month exceptionally deadly.

A wave of deadly strikes hit several cities throughout Ukraine on Monday morning, killing and injuring scores of civilians, including children. Kyiv experienced several attacks, which impacted many residential homes. The children's hospital in the center of the city was severely damaged as children were being treated. Today's attacks also struck one of the country's main health facilities for women in Kyiv, as well as key energy infrastructure.

United Nations human rights chief Voker Türk has expressed dismay at the extent to which warring parties in many settings have overstepped the bounds of what is acceptable and legal, "trampling human rights at their core." Moreover, data collected by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) shows that the number of civilian deaths in armed conflicts skyrocketed by 72 percent in 2023 compared to 2022.

In 2023, children living in situations of war and conflict experienced intolerable levels of violence, according to a new United Nations Secretary-General's report on children and armed conflict released this week. Children were recruited and used, including on the front lines, attacked in their homes, abducted on their way to school, their schools used for military purposes, their doctors targeted, and the horrific list goes on.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports that forced displacement around the world has reached historic highs, driven by conflict, persecution, human rights abuses, the climate crisis and other events disturbing public order. In a report released on Thursday, UNHCR said the number of forcibly displaced people continued to rise this year and now stands at 120 million.

United Nations humanitarian and human rights officials are calling on Russia to immediately cease its armed attacks in Ukraine, as the intensification of fighting in the northeast of the country in recent days is causing a surge in civilian casualties and displacement, and the destruction of critical infrastructure. They also urge an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and for the UN Security Council to seek an end to the war.

Children are being denied access to life-saving humanitarian aid in conflict zones around the world in blatant disregard for international law, a senior United Nations official told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday. Speakers at the hearing focused in particular on the alarming situation for children in Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Sudan, Haiti, Yemen, Myanmar, Mali, Afghanistan and Ukraine.

United Nations investigators have accused Russian authorities of violating basic human rights principles and causing untold suffering to Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians by subjecting them to appalling treatment. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine released its latest report to the UN Human Rights Council on Friday.

A new study by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warns that millions of Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) face an uncertain future as Ukraine enters its third year of war with Russia and its battle for survival risks becoming a protracted crisis.  Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is seeking to clarify the fate of 23,000 persons whose families have no news of them, either because they have been captured, killed, or because they lost contact after fleeing their homes.

The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have launched on Monday a combined US$ 4.2 billion appeal to donors to bring relief aid to some 10.8 million people in the war-affected communities in Ukraine but also to Ukrainian refugees and their host communities in the region throughout 2024.  A recent wave of Russian attacks underscores the devastating civilian cost of the war, while a bitter winter is ratcheting up the urgent need for life-saving humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, has strongly denounced a wave of Russian attacks that began Thursday night and lasted through Friday on populated areas across the country. At least 30 civilians were reportedly killed, with more than 150 others injured. Ukrainian authorities said the death toll will likely increase further as rescue operations continue.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has announced Wednesday that the number of people displaced by war, persecution, violence and human rights violations globally is estimated at more than 114 million at the end of September. According to a new UNHCR report, the main drivers of forced displacement in the first half of 2023 were: war in Ukraine and conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar; a combination of drought, floods and insecurity in Somalia; and a prolonged humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

In a new report released Wednesday, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) paints a bleak picture of the human rights situation in the country. With Russia’s invasion well into its 20th month, Ukraine’s civilians continue to pay a horrendous price with nearly 10,000 dead and tens of thousands injured, the report said, noting that over the past six months, the war has claimed, on average, six civilian lives a day. 

The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine says there is a growing body of evidence of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity committed by Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine. In its oral update, which was delivered to the UN Human Rights Council Monday, the commission presented a picture of widespread violations and abuse against the civilian population and of wanton, large-scale destruction of essential infrastructure.

The Russian government’s decision to suspend participation in an agreement that allowed Ukrainian grain to be shipped through the Black Sea will significantly harm efforts to provide food to millions of people around the world facing food insecurity, activist groups warned on Monday.  The agreement has ensured the safe passage of over 32 million metric tons of food commodities from Ukrainian ports.

The United Nations Friday deplored the horrendous civilian cost of the war in Ukraine, as the country marked 500 days since the beginning of Russia’s large-scale invasion. The UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said it was able to confirm that more than 9,000 civilians, including over 500 children, have been killed since Russia’s February 24, 2022 attack.

As protracted and new armed conflicts have continued to rage in 2022, the number of children severely affected by hostilities has remained shockingly high at almost 19,000 children in 25 countries and the Lake Chad Basin region, according to a new UN report published Tuesday. While there were 27,180 grave violations verified overall, the conflicts with the highest numbers of children affected last year were in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Yemen.

The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine’s Khersonska oblast on Tuesday has left at least 40 towns and villages partially flooded, which will likely have grave consequences for hundreds of thousands of people in southern Ukraine. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has described the destruction as a “monumental humanitarian, economic and environmental catastrophe”, resulting directly from Russia’s invasion of the country. 

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned today that intense fighting and hostilities continues to uproot thousands of civilians monthly in the front-line community of Kupiansk, in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, where constant bombardment has destroyed homes and other civilian infrastructure. According to local authorities and humanitarians on the ground, those who remain in the area in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection.

For the first time, Burkina Faso tops the list of the world’s ten most neglected displacement crises, according to a new report from the humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Releasing the analysis today, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) warned that redirection of aid and attention towards Ukraine has increased neglect of some of the world’s most vulnerable people. 

The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) around the world reached 71.1 million across 110 countries and territories at the end of 2022, a sharp increase of 20 percent from the previous year, according to a new report released Thursday. The Global Report on Internal Displacement 2023 (GRID 2023) by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) says rapidly escalating conflict and violence in countries such as Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and climate related disasters such as flooding in Pakistan forced millions of people to flee in the past year.

Russian authorities have committed a wide range of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law in various regions of Ukraine and in Russia, many of which amount to war crimes, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said in a new report Thursday. The war crimes include attacks on civilians and energy-related infrastructure, willful killings, torture and inhuman treatment, unlawful confinement, rape and unlawful transfers and deportations of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Hours before the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 141 of 193 United Nations member states have passed a resolution calling for an immediate Russian troop withdrawal and a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in Ukraine. Seven states voted Thursday against the resolution text at a special session of the UN General Assembly (UN-GA): Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, Syria and Russia. 32 countries abstained, including China, India, South Africa and Iran.