Ukraine: Emergency Briefing
This afternoon (29 August), the Security Council will hold an emergency open briefing on Ukraine. The meeting was requested by Ukraine in a letter it sent yesterday (28 August) following large-scale Russian aerial attacks conducted overnight on Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine. Council members Denmark, France, Greece, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Slovenia, and the UK supported the meeting request. Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas Miroslav Jenča is the anticipated briefer. Ukraine and several regional states are expected to participate in the meeting under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure, while the European Union (EU) is expected to participate under rule 39.
According to Ukrainian authorities, at least 21 people, including four children, were killed and 45 individuals were injured in the latest Russian assault, which involved almost 600 drones and more than 30 ballistic and cruise missiles. The Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) reported that the majority of casualties occurred in the Darnytskyi district in Kyiv, where a section of a five-storey residential building collapsed after being struck. In a 28 August X post, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine Matthias Schmale said that “[h]omes, a preschool, and the premises of several humanitarian organizations were damaged” in the attack, “underscoring the constant danger faced by people living and working in Kyiv and across Ukraine”. Buildings belonging to the EU delegation in Kyiv and to the British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, were also damaged.
This marked Russia’s largest assault on Kyiv since the 15 August summit held between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. The meeting, held as part of a push by the US to promote an agreement to resolve the war, ended without an announcement of a deal or specific areas of progress. Subsequently, on 18 August, Trump held a meeting at the White House with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, which has been described as constructive but inconclusive.
After the 18 August meeting, questions remain on key issues, such as which security guarantees would European countries and the US provide to Ukraine if it agrees to a peace deal. Additionally, although Trump said after the meeting that he would like to arrange a trilateral meeting with Putin and Zelenskyy, Moscow has since reportedly added more conditions, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying that such a meeting can take place “[w]ith the understanding that all issues that require consideration at the highest level will be well worked out and experts and ministers will prepare appropriate recommendations”. It has also rejected several proposals on security guarantees, such as deploying European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine.
The US also appears to have shifted its position regarding the sequencing and terms of a ceasefire between the sides. Prior to the Alaska summit, Trump said that he agreed with the Ukrainian and European position, which insists that a ceasefire must precede substantive peace talks. Since his meeting with Putin, however, Trump appears to be aligned with the Russian position of pursuing a comprehensive peace deal—which would address difficult issues such as the fate of territories taken by Russia in Ukraine—before a ceasefire is agreed. Some analysts have said that such sequencing would allow Russia to continue advancing on the battlefield in a bid to make territorial gains while negotiations take place. In recent weeks, media reports have described intense fighting along the 750-mile-long front line, particularly in the eastern Donetsk region, suggesting a Russian push to capture as much territory as possible ahead of a possible peace deal.
At today’s meeting, Jenča may echo the 24 August message issued by Secretary-General António Guterres on the occasion of Ukraine’s independence day, which reaffirmed the UN’s support for a “full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire…that would serve as a step towards a just, comprehensive and sustainable peace”, in line with the UN Charter, international law, and relevant UN resolutions.
Jenča and many Council members are expected to condemn the war’s deleterious effects on civilians. They may reiterate Guterres’ statement on the recent large-scale Russian assault, which stressed that “[a]ttacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law, are unacceptable and must end immediately”. Jenča might reference HRMMU figures which show that July had the highest civilian casualties since May 2022, with at least 286 civilians killed and 1,388 injured, marking the second month in a row in which such casualties reached a new three-year high. The HRMMU attributed the sharp increase to “the intensified use of aerial bombs and short-range drones”, while also noting that over 60 percent of civilian casualties were recorded in frontline areas. Overall, since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the HRMMU has documented the deaths of at least 13,883 civilians, including 726 children, and 35,548 injured, including 2,234 children.
Several speakers are likely to express concern about the effects of attacks against energy infrastructure. On 27 August, Ukrainian authorities said that Russia had launched a drone attack on energy and gas transport infrastructure across six Ukrainian regions, leaving more than 100,000 people without power in the Poltava, Sumy, and Chernihiv regions. In a 28 August press briefing, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric noted that an overnight attack on the western region of Vinnytsia left some 60,000 households without electricity, according to Ukrainian authorities. He highlighted that such attacks on energy facilities heighten concerns ahead of winter. Ukraine has also launched several attacks on Russian oil refineries in the past month, the most recent of which took place yesterday in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region. According to calculations by Reuters, Ukrainian attacks on ten Russian plants have disrupted at least 17 percent of Russia’s refinery capacity, or 1.1 million barrels per day.
Council members are expected to express differing views over what constitutes the greatest obstacle to peace in Ukraine. Several members—including the European members—are likely to reiterate their position that Russia’s recent large-scale assault undermines peace negotiations and demonstrates that Moscow is not committed to dialogue.
US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, retired Lieutenant-General Keith Kellogg, called the recent attack “egregious”, noting that it threatens the peace that Trump is pursuing. At the same time, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump “was not happy” about the latest development, but he was also “not surprised”, noting that both Russia and Ukraine have launched attacks against each other. She added that Trump wants the war to end but that “perhaps both sides of this war are not ready to end it themselves”. The US may therefore emphasise at today’s meeting the responsibility of both sides to pursue peace.
The US might elaborate on its efforts towards that end. In this regard, Ukrainian officials are reportedly scheduled to meet US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in New York today. According to Zelenskyy, the meeting will feature discussion of “security guarantees to be included in any future peace agreement”.
Russia, for its part, is expected to reject allegations that its forces are targeting civilian infrastructure, arguing that it only attacks military targets. It may instead accuse Ukraine of carrying out assaults on civilian infrastructure in Russia and criticise certain Council members for double standards. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov conveyed similar messages yesterday, while also stating that Russia “remains interested in continuing the negotiation process”. Moscow is also likely to maintain at today’s meeting that ongoing military support from Kyiv’s European allies is obstructing progress towards a peaceful resolution and might reiterate its position that a ceasefire cannot be achieved without imposing limits on further arms transfers to Ukraine.
