Ukraine

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.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its 100th day on Friday, António Guterres marked the grim milestone with a renewed call for an immediate end to the violence, while the United Nations kept up its push to secure food and fertilizer exports from the war-torn region to the wider world, amid rising levels of food insecurity.

The United Nations says a senior UN official had "constructive discussions" in Moscow on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports to global markets after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of "playing hunger games" with the world by blocking Ukrainian food exports.

Investigators probing allegations of war crimes in the Ukraine conflict must work closely together and in compliance with international standards of forensic best practice, the UN expert on extrajudicial, summary, or arbitrary executions said on Monday. 

The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly for the Czech Republic to replace Russia on the Human Rights Council, the world organization’s leading human rights body. The vote was 157 countries in favor and 23 abstentions.

French President Emmanuel Macron says it could take several years for Ukraine to formally join the European Union and proposed the creation of a new political organization for European countries that share common values.

Nearly 25 million tonnes of grains are stuck in Ukraine and unable to leave the country due to infrastructure challenges and blocked Black Sea ports including Mariupol, a UN food agency official said on Friday. The blockages are seen as a factor behind high food prices which hit a record high in March in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, before easing slightly in April.

Humanitarian needs continue to rise in war-torn Ukraine where an estimated 7.7 million people are now internally displaced, UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday. Mr. Griffiths was addressing the International Donor Conference for Ukraine in Warsaw. Co-hosted by Poland and Sweden, in cooperation with the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council. The conference raised a reported $6.5 billion.