Ukraine

Russia has committed wide-ranging war crimes in Ukraine such as willful killings, torture and the deportation of children, a U.N.-mandated investigative body said in a report published on Thursday.

The UN chief on Monday confirmed the UN would “do everything possible to preserve the integrity” of the Black Sea Grain Initiative – the deal agreed between Ukraine and Russia last July that is due to expire in just a few days.

In UN debates over Russia’s war in Ukraine, Western countries are still pledging to back Kyiv militarily, while non-Western states are more inclined to call for a negotiated peace. Thus far, however, the latter’s proposals for reaching that goal have been short on detail.

Speaking in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Wednesday, the Secretary-General assured President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the United Nations “will continue to seek solutions and a just peace for the people of Ukraine, and the world.” … “The position of the United Nations, which I have consistently expressed, is crystal clear: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a violation of the UN Charter and international law”, declared the UN chief.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday once again added his voice to international condemnation of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, telling the Human Rights Council that it had “triggered  the most massive violations of human rights we are living today”. 

One year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, nearly half the population – roughly 18 million people – need humanitarian aid and protection, the United Nations said on Friday. 

The UN General Assembly on Thursday called for ending the war in Ukraine and demanded Russia’s immediate withdrawal from the country, in line with the UN Charter. … The results were 141 Member States in favour and seven against - Belarus, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, Russia and Syria. Among the 32 abstentions were China, India and Pakistan.

UN head António Guterres has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an "affront" to the world's collective conscience at a meeting of the General Assembly nearly one year on.

Marking one year since Russia invaded Ukraine, the UN General Assembly will vote next week on a draft resolution stressing “the need to reach, as soon as possible, a comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in line with the founding United Nations Charter.

[…] Whether it is a national or international court, legal inquiry will undoubtedly turn to Russia’s eight-year military campaign in eastern Ukraine in the lead up to its full-scale war. This is where the now defunct OSCE Special Monitoring Mission can once again take centre stage.