Ukraine: Open Briefing
Tomorrow morning (9 December), the Security Council will hold an open briefing on Ukraine. Council members Denmark, France, Greece, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Slovenia, and the UK requested the meeting. Slovenian Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Tanja Fajon will chair the meeting. The anticipated briefers are Kayoko Gotoh, the Officer-in-Charge for Europe, Central Asia and Americas at the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO); Joyce Msuya, the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs; and a civil society representative. Ukraine and several regional countries are expected to participate under rule 37 of the Council’s rules of procedure, while the European Union (EU) will take part under rule 39.
The Council members who requested tomorrow’s meeting cited the rising numbers of civilian casualties in Ukraine, ongoing attacks on energy infrastructure in the country as winter is setting in, and the urgent need for a ceasefire. The Security Council last held a briefing on Ukraine on 20 November following a similar request from the same members. (For more information, see our 19 November What’s in Blue story.) Since that meeting, civilians have continued to bear the brunt of the war, as a US-led push to resolve the conflict has yet to yield progress.
Current diplomatic efforts are concentrated around a 28-point peace plan proposed by the US in late November. Ukraine and its European allies pushed back against the initial plan, saying that it mostly reflected Russian demands, such as for Ukraine to cede eastern territories that it lost on the battlefield and forgo NATO membership. The initial plan has reportedly been subsequently softened, although information on which provisions have been changed has not been made public.
The plan is also still being revised as US officials hold meetings with officials from Russia and Ukraine. Steve Witkoff, the Special Envoy of US President Donald Trump, and Jared Kushner, an adviser to the president and his son-in-law, met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 2 December to discuss the plan. This was followed by a 5-7 December meeting of Witkoff and Kushner with Ukrainian negotiators in Florida. Although both meetings have been described as constructive, they did not result in concrete agreements or compromises from the sides.
Today (8 December), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in London with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The leaders reportedly discussed the US plan “with a view to supplementing it with European contributions, in close coordination with Ukraine”, and are expected to present their proposals to Washington tomorrow. Zelenskyy has indicated that the biggest sticking point remains the ceding of territory in the east and has noted a lack of clarity about security guarantees that would prevent future Russian attacks.
Meanwhile, fighting continues along the front lines, with media reports indicating that Russia has quickened the pace of its advances on several fronts, with its forces capturing 505 square kilometers of territory in November, up from 267 square kilometers in October. For instance, battles are taking place around the strategic city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region. Putin has said that Russian forces have taken the city, a claim that Ukraine denies. Russia has also continued its long-range aerial campaign on Ukrainian cities, which increasingly targets the country’s energy infrastructure.
Today, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported “an alarming pattern of intensifying hostilities in front-line areas and persistent attacks on critical civilian infrastructure” across Ukraine in recent days, resulting in “more power outages and disruptions to vital services nationwide”. OCHA noted that, between 5 December and today, Ukrainian authorities reported over 100 civilian casualties, including nearly 20 deaths. Among those killed were two children, a 12-year-old boy in the Dnipro region and a six-year-old girl in the city of Kherson who had died from her injuries.
At tomorrow’s meeting, Msuya and many Council members are likely to voice alarm about the humanitarian impacts of such attacks, both near the front line and in urban centres. In a 2 December interview, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine Matthias Schmale warned that the upcoming winter—the fourth since Russia’s invasion in February 2022—may be more difficult, considering the higher level of infrastructure damage combined with forecasts suggesting a colder winter than last year. He highlighted concerns about the population’s ability to keep warm and to access safe drinking water as well as the conflict’s significant psychological toll on civilians. Schmale further described challenges to the delivery of humanitarian assistance, particularly in front-line areas. In this regard, he noted that Russian advances in certain areas “have made access impossible for some communities”, with the World Food Programme (WFP) estimating that at least 50,000 people can no longer be accessed by humanitarians because of fighting.
The civil society representative is expected to describe the changes in modern warfare, including the increasing use of drones, and how this has changed the injuries sustained by victims and affected their needs.
Many speakers are likely to address the war’s devastating toll on children. According to UNICEF, many schools, especially in front-line areas, remain closed due to hostilities, forcing almost one million children to study online. UNICEF also reported that more than 340 educational facilities were damaged or destroyed in 2025, further disrupting children’s lives and their right to education.
Several Council members, particularly the European members, may note that on 28 November, the General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Russia to “ensure the immediate, safe and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported”. Among other things, the resolution requests the Secretary-General to exercise his good offices, including through his Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, in order to remain actively seized of the matter.
Gotoh may echo some of the messages from her briefing at the Council’s 20 November meeting, during which she stressed that the UN is urging “concerted and inclusive diplomatic efforts resulting in tangible progress towards a just and lasting peace”. At that meeting, she also encouraged Russia and Ukraine to continue undertaking confidence-building measures, such as exchanges of prisoners of war (POWs), releases of civilian detainees, and return of Ukrainian children. Tomorrow, Gotoh and several Council members may also voice concerns about nuclear safety and security. In this regard, they might note that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) lost its off-site power on 6 December, marking the 11th such occurrence since the outbreak of the war.
Gotoh may also reference reports about Ukrainian long-range assaults on Russian territory. Most recently, Russian authorities reported on 6 December that Ukrainian drones targeted Russia’s Ryazan and Voronezh regions, causing damage but no casualties. As she did at the 20 November Council meeting, Gotoh is likely to say that the UN is not in a position to verify or confirm these reports.
At tomorrow’s meeting, Council members are likely to present diverging positions on the necessary steps towards a negotiated end to the war. The European members are likely to insist that a ceasefire must precede substantive peace talks. They are expected to sharply criticise Russia for escalating the conflict and accuse it of failing to engage in negotiations in good faith. Several members may also emphasise that a peace agreement needs to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and include security guarantees for the country.
Other members—such as China and Pakistan—are likely to be less critical of Russia, and may emphasise the importance of dialogue, diplomacy and restraint. Russia, for its part, may argue that its aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities are focused on military targets, while noting that Russia is also being targeted by Ukrainian aerial assaults.
Russia is also likely to highlight reports of corruption in Ukraine, as it has done on several occasions in the past, including during the Council’s 20 November meeting. In a recent high-profile case, on 28 November, Andriy Yermak—Zelenskyy’s former chief of staff, who had also served as lead negotiator in talks with American officials—resigned amid an investigation into $100 million embezzlement scandal. Members of the political opposition in Ukraine have reportedly accused Zelenskyy and his top aides of undermining the peace talks by involving officials who are being investigated for corruption in the negotiations.
The US has often shifted its position regarding the sequencing and terms of a ceasefire between the sides. Most recently, at the Council’s 20 November meeting, it emphasised that the war will not end militarily, urging both Russia and Ukraine to accept a ceasefire. The US noted that it had recently imposed additional sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, warning that Washington “can impose further economic costs if Russia continues to ignore calls for a ceasefire”. It may convey similar messages at tomorrow’s meeting.
