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The attacks occurred in the city’s Novobovarskyi district late on Thursday. At least three people were killed and a further 16 injured, according to media reports. The repeated missile strikes caused significant damage to residential buildings. They also affected rescue workers rushing to the scene. In a statement issued on Friday, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown extended her deepest condolences “to the families impacted by the non-stop attacks by the Russian...

24 May 2024Humanitarian Aid Civilians in the northeast of Ukraine are experiencing escalated hostilities as Russian armed forces have taken control of several villages, according to testimonies received by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU). The spokesperson for the UN human rights office (OHCHR), Liz Throssell, said that people left the Kharkiv region frontline and have been forced to stay in “cold, dark basements, with no electricity” due to aerial...

“Relentless aerial attacks continue, prolonging and exacerbating an already dire situation,” said UN refugee agency (UNHCR), spokesperson Shabia Mantoo. “More than two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, regular shelling and attacks continue to claim lives and destroy homes and critical infrastructure across the country.” Ms. Mantoo noted that in the past week, more than 10,300 people have been evacuated from their villages in Kharkiv region’s border areas by Ukrainian authorities...

The Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence requires media, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other nonprofits to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad. It was adopted on Tuesday. The adoption has sparked protests in the capital, Tbilisi, and has been denounced by Georgia’s opposition as an effort to crackdown on independent media, civil society, rights activists and government critics Chilling...

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the targeting marked a “major escalation” in the level of danger facing the power plant. It was the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 that the ZNPP – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – has been directly targeted. It has been occupied by Russian forces since the early weeks of the fighting. As of Sunday, while there were “no indications” of damage to critical...

Miroslav Jenča, an Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav in the UN Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, warned that the escalation is a direct threat to international security. Affected regions include Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Kharkiv, Odesa, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, and Donetsk. Deadly trend “We are appalled by the increase in civilian casualties as a result of these relentless attacks,” Mr. Jenča said. At least 126 civilians were killed and 478 injured...

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ian Borg briefed ambassadors during their annual meeting on cooperation between the UN and the regional body, which is comprised of 57 States spanning Europe, Central Asia and North America, representing one billion people. The Maltese Foreign Minister said OSCE countries and their societies “are confronted with an era of profound uncertainty”, given the challenging security situation in the region following more than two years of conflict in Ukraine...

Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a joint statement calling on the UK Government to reconsider its plan to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda. This arrangement seeks to shift responsibility for refugee protection, undermining international cooperation, Mr. Grandi added. “The new legislation marks a further step away from the UK’s long tradition of providing refuge to those in need, in breach of the...

Global perspective Human stories An adult and two children walk past a destroyed apartment block in Borodianka, Ukraine. 26 April 2024Peace and Security As deadly attacks in Ukraine continue, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday that the number of children killed so far this year has increased by nearly 40 per cent compared to 2023. Attacks that occurred between January and March left 25 children dead, including a two-month-old, said the agency. During the...

1 May 2024Health The COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased obesity in school-aged children in Europe, the World Health Organization (WHO) office for the region said in a new report issued on Wednesday, sounding the alarm for action. Results from 17 countries showed that boys and girls aged seven to nine spent more time looking at screens and less time playing outside, mirroring an increase in overweight children in this same age range. More than 50,000 children were surveyed from...