High Commissioner Türk on Ukraine: Human rights need to guide efforts to secure lasting peace

Mr. Vice-President, 
Distinguished delegates,

Today is a day of mourning in Kyiv.

Russia’s horrifying attack in the early hours of Thursday killed at least 30 civilians and injured at least 99 more. It is one of the deadliest attacks on Kyiv city since the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and yet another tragic reminder of why this senseless war must end.

Instead of moving closer towards peace, civilians are enduring more destruction, pain and suffering.

Between 1 December 2025 and 31 May 2026, my Office verified that at least 1,270 civilians were killed and 6,850 injured in Ukraine. This represents a 40 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. The real toll is likely higher.

In Ukraine, 96 per cent of casualties occurred in territory controlled by the Government. This spike is largely due to the Russian Federation’s use of long-range weapons and drones. For example, on 13 and 14 May this year, Russian armed forces launched more than 1,500 drones and missiles across eight regions of Ukraine and Kyiv city, killing 27 civilians and injuring at least 83.

There have also been civilian casualties in territory occupied by the Russian Federation. On 22 May, 21 civilians were killed and others injured when an educational complex was struck in occupied Starobilsk in Luhansk region during an attack in the city by Ukrainian armed forces.

Russian authorities have reported that between 1 December 2025 and 31 May 2026, 205 civilians were killed and 1,302 injured in 27 regions in the Russian Federation. My Office has not been able to verify these casualties. I repeat my call to the Russian authorities to facilitate access by my Office for independent verification.

The situation is also dire on both sides of the frontline, where short-range drone attacks caused a 57 per cent increase in civilian casualties compared with the same period 12 months earlier. Some 380 civilians were killed, and more than 2,000 people were injured.

In territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine, drones have struck clearly marked humanitarian vehicles and facilities, impeding people trying to flee and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

In occupied territory, thousands of civilians are trapped along the frontline in Kherson region, facing severe risks to their lives, food shortages, and lack of healthcare due to drone strikes and landmines.

A local ceasefire is urgently needed so people can move to safer areas.

Since mid-November 2025, my Office has verified that Russian forces have executed at least 20 captured Ukrainian servicemen.

During the reporting period, my Office interviewed 129 released Ukrainian prisoners of war. Virtually all of them provided detailed accounts of torture or other ill-treatment during their captivity, including sexual violence. This is consistent with our previous findings of widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian captivity.

Around half the prisoners of war captured by Ukraine interviewed by my Office described torture or other ill-treatment, predominantly in transit facilities before transfer to official detention facilities.

The prohibition of torture is absolute. The use of torture against prisoners of war must end immediately, and those responsible must be held to account.

Mr. Vice-President,

Last winter was the coldest in Ukraine for 15 years.

Between October 2025 and March 2026, Russian armed forces systematically and repeatedly targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure, particularly facilities providing heating for urban areas, as temperatures dropped.

These attacks left hundreds of thousands of civilians across the country without electricity, heating and hot water, sometimes for weeks, as outside temperatures fell below minus 20 degrees centigrade.

Water supplies were cut, schools were closed, and access to healthcare was disrupted.

Older people and people with disabilities were often unable to leave their apartments because elevators were not operational, further isolating them and preventing them from reaching shelters during air raids.

The scale and scope of the Russian Federation’s attacks suggest they were intended to disable Ukraine’s energy network as a whole, rather than strike specific military objectives. Treating Ukraine’s entire energy infrastructure as a military objective is incompatible with international humanitarian law.

Ukrainian armed forces also attacked electricity and heating infrastructure in the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation on at least seven occasions so far this year, causing temporary outages, according to Russian authorities. My Office could not fully verify the damage or the impact of these attacks on civilians.

Mr. Vice-President,

The Russian authorities continued to violate the laws of occupation. This includes compelling people in territory they occupy to swear allegiance to the Russian Federation, forcing people to join the Russian armed forces, carrying out forcible transfers and deportations, and imposing their legal and governance system.

Restrictions on freedom of expression continue. Courts issued arrest warrants and fines against more than 160 people for expressing anti-war views or pro-Ukrainian sentiment.

The occupying authorities have also accelerated efforts to seize private property. As of December 2025, our Office recorded that nearly 40,000 residential properties were at risk of confiscation.

Mr. Vice-President,

This war has inflicted immense human suffering and destabilised the region. One recent study estimates it has caused more than 2 million military casualties.

It is steadily poisoning air, groundwater and soil, including that used for agriculture. We know that it will have a lasting, devastating impact on the environment inherited by future generations.

Beyond the battlefield, the war continues to drive up food and energy costs, put pressure on economies, intensify political tensions, and turbocharge spending on weapons. It is making our world less safe.

Any risk of further escalation needs to be averted.

I urge renewed efforts to negotiate a sustainable peace, grounded in human rights and in line with the United Nations Charter, international law, and General Assembly resolutions.

Accountability for all these horrific violations is essential.

Protecting human rights is key to building the trust and confidence required for any sustainable peace and can provide a vital opening for meaningful dialogue.

This war is cutting deep physical and psychological wounds. Human rights need to guide efforts to secure lasting peace.

Thank you.