Ukraine: Briefing
On Monday afternoon (20 April), the Security Council will hold an open briefing on Ukraine. The meeting was requested by Ukraine in a 14 April letter following large-scale Russian aerial attacks on the city of Dnipro and other cities across Ukraine on that day. Council members Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, Liberia, and the UK supported the meeting request. The anticipated briefers are Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) Mohamed Khaled Khiari and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya. Ukraine and several countries from the region are expected to participate in the meeting under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.
In its letter, Ukraine argues that Russia has intensified its campaign of aerial attacks against civilians and critical infrastructure, stating that, between 30 March and 13 April, Moscow launched more than 3,600 Uncrewed Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), nearly 1,350 guided aerial bombs, and over 40 missiles across Ukraine. The letter says that these attacks killed at least 70 civilians and injured more than 400 people, adding that a 14 April strike on the city of Dnipro killed five civilians and severely injured 27 others. Ukraine claims in the letter that these attacks amount to grave breaches of international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.
Overnight between 15 and 16 April, Russia launched another heavy barrage of missiles and drones on major cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv, Odesa, and Dnipro. According to Ukrainian authorities, the attack involved 659 drones and 44 missiles, killing at least 18 people, including one child, and injuring more than 100 others.
These attacks occurred shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on 9 April a 32-hour ceasefire for the Orthodox Easter weekend, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to observe on a reciprocal basis. However, within hours of the ceasefire taking effect, both sides accused the other of violating it. By the morning of Orthodox Easter on 12 April, Ukraine’s armed forces had recorded 2,299 alleged ceasefire violations by Russia, while Russia’s Ministry of Defence had reported 1,971 alleged violations by Ukrainian forces.
On 14 April, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that frontline hostilities continued to inflict civilian casualties and damage civilian infrastructure despite the ceasefire announcement. OCHA further reported that, according to local authorities and humanitarian partners, at least a dozen civilians were killed and more than 140 others injured during the preceding four days. The regions most affected were Donetsk, Kherson, and Sumy.
On the diplomatic front, US-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia have effectively stalled as a result of the US-Israeli war with Iran and the recent escalation in and around the Strait of Hormuz. On 21 and 22 March, Ukrainian and US negotiators held bilateral talks in Florida, after which Zelenskyy said that it was clear that US attention was “primarily focused on the situation around Iran and in that region”, while stressing that the war in Ukraine must also be brought to an end. On 6 April, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the trilateral talks were on a “situational pause”, citing competing US priorities. Nevertheless, exchanges of prisoners of war (POWs) have continued as one of the few tangible outcomes of the negotiation process. On 11 April, the two sides exchanged 175 POWs each, along with seven Ukrainian civilians, in a swap mediated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Territorial questions and security guarantees remain key obstacles to a broader settlement. On 1 April, Zelenskyy held a video call with US Special Presidential Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, an adviser to US President Donald Trump and his son-in-law, joined by US Senator Lindsey Graham and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, during which they discussed security guarantees and the possible role of European countries. Ukraine has proposed freezing the conflict along the current front lines, including in the Donbas region, in the event of a ceasefire, while Russia has continued to demand that Ukraine cede the parts of the Donetsk region still under Kyiv’s control. In a 9 April post on X, Zelenskyy argued that any withdrawal from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region would “open up opportunities for the Russian Federation to occupy [Ukraine’s] most fortified territories without losses”.
At Monday’s meeting, Khiari is expected to highlight the human cost of the ongoing hostilities in Ukraine. According to the most recent protection of civilians in armed conflict (PoC) report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), which was issued on 10 April, at least 211 civilians were killed and 1,206 injured in March, representing a 49 percent increase compared with February. The HRMMU found that attacks with long-range weapons, including missiles and drones, remained the primary cause of civilian casualties, with most occurring in cities and towns far from the front line. The report also noted that short-range drones were the second leading cause of civilian casualties and the leading cause of civilian deaths in March, while daily frontline attacks involving drones, artillery, and aerial bombs accounted for 63 percent of all civilian casualties last month. The HRMMU further warned that Russian attacks on energy, railway, and port infrastructure continued to severely disrupt daily life and put civilians at risk, with intensified strikes on railway infrastructure in March affecting at least 14 regions. The report underscores that such attacks pose a serious threat to civilians, who rely on rail transport for evacuation from areas affected by the ongoing hostilities as well as for the delivery of humanitarian supplies.
Council members are likely to present diverging positions on the path towards ending the war. The European members—Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, and the UK—are expected to strongly condemn Russia’s intensified aerial campaign, drawing particular attention to the large-scale strikes on Dnipro on 14 April that prompted the meeting request. They are likely to cite the HRMMU’s PoC report, which recorded the highest monthly civilian casualty toll since July 2025, to underscore what they view as a deliberate pattern of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. Several European members may also argue that the failure to uphold the Easter ceasefire demonstrates Russia’s lack of good faith, noting that both sides accused each other of violations within hours of the truce taking effect. They are expected to repeat their call for a full, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire as well as reiterate that any peace agreement must respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders and include credible security guarantees.
Some may also draw attention to the link between the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, echoing concerns raised in recent days at senior political and military levels. At the Council’s 13 April briefing on cooperation between the UN and the European Union (EU), the regional organisation’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, warned that Russia was supporting Iran with intelligence and drones, and argued that prolonging the war in the Middle East benefits Moscow through higher energy prices, depleted air defence arsenals, and diverted international attention. Similarly, at a 15 April meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group—an alliance of over 50 countries and the EU that coordinates military support for Ukraine—German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey warned that the war in the Middle East was diverting attention and resources away from Ukraine while also benefiting Russia’s war effort. European members may urge the Council not to lose focus on the situation in Ukraine at Monday’s meeting.
Several Council members are likely to welcome the recent POW exchange as a limited but important confidence-building measure. Some, including China and Pakistan, may call for restraint, de-escalation, and an early resumption of peace talks. They may also emphasise the need for a negotiated settlement that takes into account the legitimate security interests of all sides.
Russia, for its part, is expected to reject the framing of the meeting, accusing Ukraine and its European allies of using the Council to score political points and divert attention from what it characterises as Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory and civilians. It may cite figures on alleged Ukrainian drone and missile strikes against Russian regions—including Belgorod, Bryansk, Vladimir, and Krasnodar—and accuse Ukraine of targeting civilian infrastructure. Russia may also draw attention to Ukrainian attacks on cross-border energy infrastructure, including the TurkStream pipeline and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal at Novorossiysk, framing these as acts of terrorism that threaten regional and global energy security. It may also seek to cast doubt on Ukraine’s willingness to negotiate, while reaffirming that Moscow remains open to a diplomatic solution on its own terms.
The US position will be closely watched, particularly given the acknowledged pause in the trilateral negotiations. At the Council’s latest briefing on Ukraine, held on 23 March, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau emphasised Washington’s determination to broker a deal to end the war, while criticising the UN for failing to play a constructive role in such efforts. On Monday, the US may reiterate its call on both sides to negotiate in good faith and with flexibility, while signalling continued engagement despite the competing demands of the crisis in the Middle East.
