Ukraine: Briefing
On Monday morning (27 July), the Security Council will hold an open briefing on Ukraine. The meeting was requested by Ukraine in a 20 July letter and supported by the Council’s European members (Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, and the UK). The anticipated briefers are 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), 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.
Ukraine’s letter refers to a large-scale Russian missile and drone attack carried out overnight between 18 and 19 July. According to the letter, Kyiv suffered the most severe consequences, with residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure sustaining damage. The letter says that at least one civilian was killed and 17 others injured in the capital and the surrounding region, while attacks were also reported in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Donetsk, and Kherson regions. It describes the assault as one of the largest ballistic missile attacks against Kyiv since the beginning of the war and argues that it reflects a continuing pattern of attacks against densely populated areas and civilian infrastructure.
In addition to its continued heavy missile and drone attacks against Ukrainian cities, Russian strikes have also increasingly affected Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, maritime export routes, and commercial shipping. Between 15 and 20 July, attacks on the Odesa region and nearby port facilities reportedly damaged several foreign-flagged vessels. For instance, on 19 July, a Turkish-owned cargo ship was struck shortly after leaving Odesa. Ukrainian authorities reported that the vessel was carrying Ukrainian grain and that nine crew members and a Ukrainian maritime pilot were killed in the attack. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of seeking to undermine the country’s maritime exports, with Acting Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha warning that the attacks carry “a serious risk to global food security”. Moscow, for its part, has maintained that it is targeting infrastructure and vessels supporting Ukrainian military operations.
At the same time, Ukraine has intensified its long-range campaign against Russian targets. Ukrainian officials have reported strikes on oil refineries and fuel facilities in several Russian regions and attacks against vessels in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Kyiv has described the campaign as an effort to disrupt Russian fuel and ammunition supply chains, reduce Moscow’s energy revenues, and target vessels it identifies as belonging to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”. Ukraine has also targeted warehouses belonging to the Russian online retailer “Wildberries”. Ukraine said that the facilities served as logistics hubs supplying drone components and other equipment to the Russian military, while Russian authorities have described them as civilian and reported casualties.
Nuclear safety concerns have also persisted. On 15 July, Moscow accused Ukraine of carrying out a drone strike that killed the chief engineer of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). Ukraine rejected the allegation as baseless, while International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi condemned the reported incident as an “unacceptable attack on the plant and its management” that seriously threatened nuclear safety.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has continued efforts to secure additional air-defence capabilities and longer-term military support. Following talks with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Ankara on 8 July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the US has agreed to grant Ukraine licences to produce Patriot interceptors, although experts have noted that production could take a year or longer.
On 13 July, leaders of the “Coalition of the Willing”—a group of more than 30 countries, primarily from Europe, that are supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia—met with Zelenskyy in Paris to discuss air-defence cooperation, military-industrial production, and possible security arrangements following a ceasefire. The participants endorsed a European-backed missile-defence initiative, while France announced that Ukraine will acquire an initial batch of next-generation SAMP/T air-defence systems. Yesterday (23 July), the European Union (EU) announced a sanctions package targeting Russian financial institutions, military-industrial entities, oil refineries, and 41 vessels associated with Russia’s shadow fleet.
On 22 July, Zelenskyy spoke with US presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about ways to reinvigorate diplomacy. Today (24 July), the White House said that Trump and Zelenskyy are scheduled to meet in Washington on 28 July. Ukrainian and US officials have reportedly been discussing a possible air ceasefire proposal to present to Russia as part of renewed diplomatic efforts.
At Monday’s meeting, the briefers are likely to express alarm about the war’s growing civilian toll. They may draw attention 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 14 July. According to the report, at least 293 civilians were killed and 1,990 injured in June, representing the highest combined monthly civilian casualty total since April 2022. During the first six months of 2026, HRMMU verified 1,396 civilians killed and 7,978 injured, a 37 percent increase compared with the corresponding period in 2025. Long-range missiles and drones accounted for 45 percent of civilian casualties in June, while casualties caused by short-range drones near the front line reached their highest monthly level since February 2022.
The briefers are also likely to focus on attacks affecting humanitarian operations. On 17 July, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported that a warehouse in the central city of Dnipro had been struck by drones four times over a 24-hour period. Moreover, on 19 July, an attack severely damaged a UNICEF-contracted warehouse in the village of Bilohorodka in the Kyiv region and destroyed more than 106,000 humanitarian items valued at approximately $3.9 million. UNICEF also reported that June recorded the highest monthly number of child casualties since 2022, with seven children killed and 116 injured. Ratwatte may stress that attacks on humanitarian facilities impede the delivery of assistance and reiterate calls for safe and unimpeded access.
Council members are expected to remain divided in their assessments of responsibility for the escalation. The European Council members and the US are likely to condemn Russia’s recent attacks, with particular attention to strikes affecting residential areas, humanitarian facilities, port infrastructure, and commercial shipping. Several of these members may also condemn today’s Russian strike on the eastern city of Sloviansk, which reportedly destroyed the building of Latvia’s Honorary Consulate and injured two members of its staff. Some of those members may describe the attacks as part of a broader campaign against Ukraine’s civilian population and economy and reiterate calls for Moscow to accept an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.
Several other members—including Bahrain, China, Pakistan, and Somalia—are likely to focus on the intensification of attacks by both sides, the risks posed by the expanding use of long-range weapons, and the need to prevent a further widening of the conflict. These members may call for restraint, strict compliance with international humanitarian law, and the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure. Some may also express concern about attacks affecting commercial vessels and nuclear facilities and urge the parties to preserve channels of communication.
Russia is likely to reject allegations that it deliberately targets civilians and argue that its attacks are directed against military-industrial facilities, ports, and other infrastructure used by the Ukrainian armed forces. Russia may also accuse Ukraine and its European supporters of using the Council selectively to highlight Russian strikes while ignoring Ukrainian attacks inside Russia and against Russian-controlled territory. In this regard, Russia may draw attention to Ukrainian attacks on the Wildberries warehouses, oil refineries, fuel depots, vessels in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and the reported killing of the ZNPP’s chief engineer. Russia may also criticise European defence initiatives and the EU’s latest sanctions package, arguing that Western support is prolonging the war while undermining diplomatic efforts.
