Nearly 11,000 civilians have died in Ukrainian war: UN
We condemn all attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure - they are prohibited under international law MOHAMED KHALED KHIAR
United Nations, US - The UN said on Friday that the war in Ukraine has resulted in at least 10,703 deaths.
The deaths include ‘594 children’ and 20,146 more, including 1,316 children, have been injured, Mohamed Khaled Khiar, UN assistant head for Middle East, Asia and Pacific, said at a Security Council meeting on Ukraine.
“We condemn all attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure - they are prohibited under international law,” he said, stressing that the attacks are ‘unacceptable and must stop now’.
Lisa Doughten, UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs Director for the Humanitarian Financing and Resource Mobilization Division, emphasised that attacks against civilians constitute a violation of international humanitarian law and noted the need for all parties to protect civilians.
The UN continues ‘to face significant obstacles to reaching everyone in need’, she said and added that humanitarian access to parts of Russian-occupied Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and the Zaporizhzhia regions are restricted. There is ‘an estimated 1.5mn people in need of life-saving assistance’, she said.
‘Beginning of Third World War’
Meanwhile, Russia on Saturday requested a UN Security Council meeting to discuss French President Emmanuel Macron’s idea to send NATO troops to Ukraine.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting in New York, Russia’s deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Security Council Dmitry Polyansky said Moscow would like to know more about such ‘ideas fraught with the beginning of the Third World War’.
On February 27, Macron confirmed his offer to NATO partners to send troops to Ukraine.
However, he added that an official consensus to send ground troops ‘has not yet been reached, but nothing can be ruled out’.
Later, he said France would send soldiers if Russia moved to Kyiv or Odesa.
Polyansky added that it is equally important to discuss leaked conversations between German Air Force officers about
supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine, as well as the media reports that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has deployed a network of spy bases in Ukraine, near the Russian border.
“It would be interesting to hear a comment in connection with a conversation leaked to the media by high-ranking German military officials who talked about how to help Ukrainians destroy the Kerch Bridge in Crimea and strike deep into Russian territory,” he said.
Last week, the German government faced criticism after conversations between Air Force officers about supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine were leaked. Potential strategies were discussed, such as providing satellite intelligence through third parties rather than direct German involvement.
The New York Times said on February 27 that over the past eight years, the CIA has trained and equipped Kyiv’s intelligence officers in underground bunkers, some of which are buried deep in Ukraine’s forests.
Regarding the incident with a strike in Odesa on Wednesday, Polyansky said its target was a workshop for assembling naval drones from parts delivered from the UK.