Ukraine

[…] After the Russian invasion, external support to Ukraine has changed the emphasis from capacity-building and NATO interoperability to the provision of military equipment and other means of assistance to meet immediate needs. However, if the security situation permits and it is in line with the political priorities of both parties, an EU mission to the Ukrainian PME [Professional Military Education] sector may become relevant again.

The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide briefed the Security Council on Tuesday, reinforcing concerns already voiced by other senior UN officials in the chamber, over “the heightened risks” of sexual violence, and trafficking, which are “significantly impacting women and children”, following the Russian invasion of 24 February.

Russia launched its war on Ukraine on 24 February 2022, but Russian cyber-attacks against Ukraine have persisted ever since Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, intensifying just before the 2022 invasion.

Ukraine is engaged in “complex” negotiations to free its ports from a Russian naval blockade, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on June 20, after the EU's top diplomat accused Russia of committing a "real war crime" by blocking grain exports from the ports.

As the UN marks the International Day of Family Remittances on Thursday, there is concern that economic contraction and job losses in Russia - likely to now rise further as a result of sanctions imposed since the invasion of Ukraine - are already having an impact on remittance-dependent communities in Central Asia, according to experts with the International Organization for Migration.

Russia and Ukraine account for nearly one-third of global wheat supplies., Russia is also a leading exporter of fertilizer while Ukraine is a major supplier of corn and sunflower oil. The impact of the war "could lead to anywhere between 11 to 19 million more hungry people -- that's chronic hunger for 2022/23," said Boubaker Ben Belhassen of the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO).

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday condemned the death sentence handed down to three foreign fighters in Ukraine by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. “Such trials against prisoners of war amount to a war crime,” said OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.

Several European heads of military cyber defense forces agreed on Wednesday that Russia has been far less effective than expected in employing digital combat capabilities in their offensive against Ukraine.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia stormed out of a UN Security Council meeting on Monday (6 June) as European Council President Charles Michel addressed the 15-member body and accused Moscow of fueling a global food crisis with its invasion of Ukraine.

Allegations of sexual violence by Russian troops in Ukraine are mounting, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Monday, expressing regret over a stark discrepancy between that painful reality, and the global community’s ambition to end the use of rape as a weapon of war.