Ukraine

In a statement issued on February 22, two days before the second anniversary of the launch of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Turk said the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) had verified 30,457 civilian casualties during the war -- 10,582 killed and 19,875 injured, adding that the actual numbers were likely to be considerably higher.

In Brussels, NATO defence chiefs have ended two days of talks aimed at tackling the biggest challenges facing the western alliance, including the war in Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged the US Congress to pass a military aid package for Kyiv.

The decision comes amid differences between Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy and the general.

China has warned Ukraine about designating Chinese companies as "international sponsors of war," saying it could damage relations between the two countries, Reuters reported, citing unidentified sources familiar with the matter.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Wednesday that Russia had violated global anti-terrorism and anti-racial discrimination treaties, but dismissed most of the charges Kyiv brought against Moscow stemming from its 2014 invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for an international investigation into the crash of a Russian military plane. The UN Security Council will meet on Thursday to discuss the incident.

Recent weeks have seen a steep increase in civilian casualties in Ukraine following an intensification of Russian attacks, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country, HRMMU, said in a new report issued on Tuesday. 

Major aerial attacks causing widespread death and destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure have rained down on Ukraine in the first days of 2024 due to an intense new Russian offensive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow is upgrading its nuclear arsenal and keeping its strategic forces at the highest level of readiness as the West wages a “hybrid war” against it. Moscow would continue what it calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, and all attempts to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia had crumbled, Putin told a conference of senior defence officials on Tuesday.

The United Nations human rights chief has said there had been an “extensive failure” by Russia to take adequate measures to protect civilians in Ukraine and that there were indications that Russian forces had committed war crimes.