At least 238 civilians were killed and 1,404 injured in Ukraine last April alone. “This is the highest monthly number of civilian victims recorded since July 2025”, highlighted the UN.
The war in Ukraine is becoming more lethal with each passing day, the UN warned this Tuesday, at a Security Council meeting in which several European countries reaffirmed their support for Kiev.
“Now in its fifth year, the war in Ukraine is becoming deadlier with each passing day,” said Kayoko Gotoh, representative of the UN Departments of Political Affairs and Peacebuilding and Peacekeeping Operations.
Between May 13th and 14th, Russia reportedly launched more than 1,500 drones and dozens of missiles against Ukrainian cities. On the last day, one of these missiles destroyed a nine-story building in Kiev and killed 24 people and at least 48 were injured.
“These large-scale attacks continue daily,” Kayoko Gotoh reported, noting that at least 238 civilians were killed and 1,404 injured in Ukraine last April alone.
“This is the highest monthly number of civilian casualties recorded since July 2025,” he stressed, adding: “This also reflects a continued pattern of increasing violence against civilians.”
The UN also highlighted, that within Russia, Ukrainian attacks have led to an increase in civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings.
“We strongly condemn all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur,” said Kayoko Gotoh.
“These brazen incidents are not isolated”
At the same meeting, the director of the Crisis Response division of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that humanitarian workers in Ukraine, “clearly identified as belonging to the United Nations”, were the target of repeated attacks last week.
“These brazen incidents are not isolated,” said Edem Wosornu, noting that such attacks could constitute war crimes.
In the face of Russia’s increasingly lethal attacks on Ukraine, European members of the Security Council insisted on continued support for Kiev.
Ambassador James Kariuki of the United Kingdom echoed UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ calls for a comprehensive ceasefire and a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.
“But peace begins with the truth: this war can end the moment Russia stops the invasion,” he said.
He also said that Moscow is losing more soldiers than it is recruiting and it will take decades to achieve its war goals at the rate at which it is conquering territory.
Like this, the President of the Russian Federation is “desperate to convince that Russian victory is inevitable” and support a “lost cause”he declared.
“Europe’s support is here to stay.”
However, the British diplomat stressed: “Europe’s support is here to stay.”
The Frenchman highlighted that, after more than four years of high-intensity war, the Council “cannot resign itself to accepting temporary ceasefires used by Russia according to its convenience, before resuming, as it sees fit, the war of aggression against Ukraine”.
Calling for a comprehensive and immediate ceasefire, US diplomat Tammy Bruce stressed that the growing economic and human cost of this war “is unacceptable”.
The diplomat urged Moscow to allow humanitarian workers access to areas under Russian control and to return all Ukrainian children who were illegally deported to Russia, as well as those who were forcibly transferred within the occupied territory.
“These are not absurd or unprecedented requests; they are a reflection of basic human decency and a step towards the lasting peace we all seek,” he pointed out.
In turn, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, said he did not see any sign that Kiev “be ready to make substantial progress on the issue of conflict resolution.”
Nebenzya argued that the Ukrainian President should issue a ceasefire order, withdraw the Ukrainian Armed Forces from “Russian regions, including Donbass”and proceed to discuss the concrete parameters of a “genuinely comprehensive, just and sustainable peace”.
“And until this comes to fruition, the objectives of the special military operation will be achieved by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” he insisted.
The Ukrainian ambassador, Andrii Melnykm, called on all member states to strengthen sanctions against Moscow and prevent the supply of components for the Russian war machine.
