Civilian casualties in Ukraine remain at record levels, with intensified Russian attacks in September continuing a pattern of harm in 2026 far exceeding previous years, UN human rights monitors in Ukraine said on Friday.

Ongoing and deadly Russian attacks across Ukraine are causing serious healthcare disruption, with more than $1.5 million-worth of medicines and supplies destroyed in four separate strikes on warehouses used by the UN there since July. 

Escalating violence and human rights violations in the four-year-old Russia-Ukraine war are in the spotlight in the Security Council on Friday following a spate of Russian attacks against civilian targets and infrastructure in recent days.

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine on Wednesday called for an end to attacks against civilians following further overnight strikes by Russian forces that reportedly killed at least 19 in the Chernihiv Region.

Health authorities in Russia say there is “no plague case” in Siberia following reports last week that a lab technician had died of pneumonia of an unknown origin in the region, World Health Organization (WHO) officials said on Wednesday.

The death of a lab worker in Russia’s Siberia region has sparked concerns over a possible plague case, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, adding that it was following the situation closely.  

The war in Ukraine is a human rights catastrophe that is “growing and intensifying by the week” and threatening an even greater disaster across the region, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said on Friday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday called for intensified pressure on Russia to end its war against Ukraine, arguing that Moscow continues to incur massive losses while prolonging a conflict whose consequences are increasingly being felt far beyond the battlefield.

Five years of war. Another winter closing in. Today, the Security Council once again debates a path to peace – though any resolution still runs up against the veto of Russia, one of its own permanent members, whose objections have repeatedly stalled any consensus. As world leaders take the floor, the gap between diplomatic process and battlefield reality appears to be stark.

The United Kingdom will fight disinformation at home and abroad, and work to ensure global safety standards for artificial intelligence (AI), new Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday evening in his first address to the United Nations General Assembly. 

UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts on Monday laid out a grim picture of the human cost of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with a spotlight on civilians facing a third wartime winter as well as the intimidation of Russians who have fled abroad.

Over 1,000 cases of sexual violence against civilians and prisoners of war (POWs) in Ukraine have been documented from the start of Russia’s invasion to the end of July this year.

In an underground classroom in Sumy, Ukraine, children sit quietly at their desks, busy with the day’s lessons. For the moment they are shielded from the horrors of nearly five years of war, but just barely.

A drone strike on the protective structure at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant could have endangered the safety of millions of people, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Alexander De Croo told reporters via video link from Kyiv on Thursday.

As the climate warms, the threat of wildfires is spreading in Europe. How can historically cooler and wetter countries prepare?

A new airstrike overnight damaged one of the main warehouses used by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Ukraine to store humanitarian medical supplies in the Kyiv region, the UN agency said on Friday.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 3,205 attacks on healthcare facilities have been carried out, World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for Ukraine Jarno Habicht reported on Friday following fresh overnight strikes.

As spiralling drone and missile attacks on civilians in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war continue, top UN officials told the Security Council on Monday that every diplomatic effort must work towards a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire. UN News app users can follow our live coverage here.

Russian ballistic missile strikes killed 17 people and injured more than 40 in and around the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Thursday, local authorities reported.

As amber heat-health alerts spread across England this summer, a new study has found that the warnings are being received – but not changing behaviour.