Ukraine: Briefing
On Monday afternoon (8 June), the Security Council will hold an open briefing on Ukraine. The meeting was requested by Ukraine in a 2 June letter and supported by the Council’s European members (Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, and the UK). The anticipated briefers are Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo and Acting Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Indrika Ratwatte. 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 describes what it calls another “shocking and unprecedented” escalation by Russia, referring to the large-scale missile and drone attack carried out overnight between 1 and 2 June against several Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv. The letter says that Kyiv was the primary target of the attack and that at least six people were killed and around 80 injured in the capital, where residential apartment buildings, medical facilities, utilities, and electricity infrastructure were damaged. It further notes that Dnipro was among the hardest-hit cities, with at least 16 people killed, including children and an emergency worker, and more than 40 injured. According to the letter, the regions of Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, and Chernihiv were also affected. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) reported that the attack killed at least 22 civilians across the country and injured 145, including eight children.
Monday’s meeting will be the Council’s fifth meeting on developments related to Ukraine or the spillover effects of the war in the past three weeks. (For more information, see our 18 and 27 May What’s in Blue stories.) The most recent meeting, held on 1 June under the “Threats to international peace and security” agenda item, was convened at Romania’s request following what it alleged was the entry of a Russian drone carrying explosives into Romanian airspace overnight between 28 and 29 May. In a 29 May letter to the Council, Romania said that the drone was involved in Russian attacks against civilian infrastructure targets in Ukraine near Romania’s border, was tracked by radar systems as far as the southern area of the Galați municipality, and crashed onto the roof of a residential apartment building, injuring two people. Romania described the incident as one of the most serious violations of its national sovereignty since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022 and called on the Security Council to condemn Russia’s actions.
During a media stakeout ahead of the 1 June meeting, Romanian Minister for Foreign Affairs Oana-Silvia Țoiu delivered a joint statement on behalf of more than 50 member states—including Council members Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, the UK, and the US—and the European Union (EU). The statement condemned the drone incident as a violation of international law, said that airspace violations by Russia over Romania and other Central and Eastern European countries have occurred repeatedly since the start of the war, and characterised them as a direct consequence of Russia’s “escalation tactics” in attacks against Ukraine.
At the 1 June meeting, Kayoko Gotoh, Director and Officer in Charge for Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO), noted that while the 28-29 May incident was not the first reported breach of Romanian airspace by an armed drone since the start of the war in Ukraine, it was reportedly the first such incident to result in casualties. Gotoh also warned of a “worrying trend” of drone incursions into the airspaces and territorial waters of countries bordering Ukraine or Russia, as well as the risks of military miscalculation, including around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, where a drone reportedly struck a turbine building on 30 May. She urged all concerned parties to act responsibly and refrain from any action that could further destabilise the situation, warning that the present trajectory of escalation and intensification risks getting out of control.
Council members expressed concern at the risk of the war’s spillover beyond Ukraine, but remained divided on responsibility for the incident and on the path towards ending the conflict. Several members—including the European members and the US—condemned the incident and expressed solidarity with Romania. Russia rejected the allegations as unfounded and politically motivated, saying that its forces had struck Ukrainian military targets and calling for an objective and impartial investigation. Several other Council members expressed concern about the risks of escalation and miscalculation and called for restraint, diplomacy, and respect for international law.
Since then, another incident in Romania has underscored continuing concerns about the war’s potential spillover. According to media reports, a Ukrainian maritime drone self-detonated today (5 June) in Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanța, near an oil terminal, without causing casualties. Ukraine subsequently said that the drone lost control because of “Russian jamming” and that it had coordinated with Romanian authorities to prevent any harm to civilians.
At Monday’s meeting, the briefers are likely to express alarm about the continuing toll of Russian missile and drone attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. They might echo messages conveyed by Secretary-General António Guterres, who strongly condemned the 1-2 June overnight attack, reiterating his appeal for immediate de-escalation leading to a full, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire.
Council members are expected to offer divergent views on responsibility for the latest escalation and on the prospects for diplomacy. The European Council members are likely to condemn the 1-2 June attack, describe it as part of Russia’s broader campaign against Ukraine’s civilian population and infrastructure, and reiterate calls for Moscow to accept a full, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire. They may also stress that Ukraine has shown readiness for a ceasefire and negotiations, while Russia has continued to escalate the situation. In this regard, some members may refer to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 4 June open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which he proposed direct engagement between the two leaders, a full ceasefire for the duration of the negotiations, an all-for-all prisoners of war (POW) exchange, and serious steps to return civilians and children taken during the war. According to Russian media, when asked about the letter and whether he planned to meet Zelenskyy, Putin said that, “so far”, he saw no point in doing so.
The European Council members may also refer to the findings of the Secretary-General’s latest annual report on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), which was circulated to Council members on 28 May. The report says that the HRMMU verified 310 cases of CRSV perpetrated by Russian armed and security forces, affecting 280 men, 26 women, and four girls in the context of the war in Ukraine. At least 52 of these cases were perpetrated in 2025 against male POWs and civilian detainees, while the remaining cases, although verified and documented in 2025, took place between February 2022 and December 2024. The report adds that Russian authorities consistently denied UN monitors access to detention sites and temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and that the UN has not received information on remedial action taken by Russia. The Secretary-General listed in the annex to his report Russian armed and security forces among parties credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence.
The HRMMU also documented 31 cases of CRSV implicating Ukrainian armed forces, Security Service and penitentiary staff, the majority of which occurred prior to 2025. The Secretary-General’s report notes that the Ukrainian government continued to grant access to independent monitors, lawyers, and the families of detainees and POWs, while taking steps to strengthen national policy and the legislative framework to address sexual violence.
Several other Council members are likely to stress the need for restraint, de-escalation, protection of civilians, and respect for international humanitarian law. Some members may welcome the 5 June prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia, in which each side reportedly released 185 POWs. These members may urge the parties to build on such measures, resume meaningful diplomacy, and avoid actions that could further widen the conflict or increase the risk of miscalculation.
Russia is likely to reject allegations that it targets civilians and argue that its strikes are directed at military facilities, decision-making centres, and defence-related infrastructure. It may maintain that its recent attacks are a response to Ukrainian attacks, including the 22 May strike on a dormitory in Starobilsk in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, which is currently controlled by Russia, that Moscow says killed 21 people. Russia may also refer to recent Ukrainian drone strikes in Russia, including a 3 June assault during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Russia may also criticise the Secretary-General’s latest annual CRSV report. At a 4 June press briefing, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia (Russia) described the decision to list Russian armed and security forces as biased and politicised, arguing that the incidents described in the report do not demonstrate a systemic pattern.
The US is likely to condemn the recent Russian attacks and reiterate its call for an end to the war, while emphasising the need to avoid further escalation. The meeting will take place against the backdrop of renewed congressional debate over US support for Ukraine. On 4 June, the US House of Representatives passed legislation that would provide more than $1 billion in security and reconstruction aid to Ukraine, make an additional $8 billion available for Ukraine’s defence through loans, and impose new sanctions on key segments of the Russian economy. The bill’s prospects in the Senate remain uncertain, however.
