Ukraine

The recent wave of devastating Russian attacks targeting Odesa and other key Ukrainian port cities marks a “calamitous turn” in the 15-month war, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday. 

European Union foreign ministers on Thursday discussed a proposal by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to spend up to €20 billion ($22.4 billion) on weapons, ammunition and other military aid for Ukraine over four years. According to EU officials and diplomats, Josep Borrell proposed adding an annual contribution of up to €5 billion for Ukraine into an EU-managed fund called the European Peace Facility to support Ukraine as it fights a Russian invasion.

The International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, ICPA, a new legal body that will investigate crimes committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was launched on Monday in The Hague.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged NATO on Wednesday to send Ukraine a clear signal at a summit next month that it can join the military alliance when Russia's war on his country ends.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the war “has weakened the international collective security system we have all pledged to uphold”, the top UN political affairs official told the Security Council on Friday, briefing ambassdors on the current situation on the ground. … The impact of the intensifying violence on civilians remains “our gravest concern”, she said, adding that Russian missile barrages and drone attacks across Ukraine nearly tripled in May. Citing latest reports, she said the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has recorded 24,862 civilian casualties to date, but “the actual figures are likely considerably higher”.

The UN has worked to extend critical humanitarian assistance for the people of Ukraine since day one of the invasion, the Organization’s development chief told the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London on Wednesday.

European Union member states plan to train as many as 30,000 members of Ukraine’s armed forces this year, including from territorial defense units, Kyiv said on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday gave African leaders seeking to mediate in the war in Ukraine a list of reasons why he believed many of their proposals were misguided, pouring cold water on a plan already largely dismissed by Kyiv.

As Ukraine’s counteroffensive ramps up, Russia announced plans to conduct local elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine, where active fighting is taking place.

Others have tried and failed, and now six African leaders are heading to Moscow and Kyiv in the coming days to try to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict. South Africa — leading the delegation — has been accused of favoring Russia, despite its officially neutral stance on the war.