Ukraine: Briefing
On Monday afternoon (24 August), the Security Council will convene for a briefing on the situation in Ukraine. The meeting will coincide with the anniversary of Ukraine’s declaration of independence in 1991 and will also mark four and a half years since Russia’s invasion of the country on 24 February 2022. The Council’s five European members—Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, and the UK, collectively known as the “E5”—requested the meeting, which Denmark’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, is expected to chair. Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher are the anticipated briefers. 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.
Hostilities have continued to intensify since the Council’s last open briefing on Ukraine, held on 27 July. Today (21 August), several Russian drones reportedly struck a shopping centre in Kryvyi Rih, killing at least 15 people and injuring more than 130 others, including 23 children, according to media reports. Overnight between 19 and 20 August, Russia carried out a large-scale missile and drone attack on the capital, Kyiv, and the surrounding region, reportedly killing at least 17 people and injuring more than 40. Ukrainian authorities said that residential buildings, a school, a children’s hospital, and other civilian infrastructure were damaged. Russia’s Ministry of Defence maintained that the attack targeted drone-production facilities, a military depot, and a logistics hub. The assaults followed several other deadly attacks in recent weeks, including a 5 August attack that killed at least 17 civilians in Kyiv and the surrounding region, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Recent months have witnessed a sharp rise in civilian casualties. According to the latest protection of civilians in armed conflict update by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), at least 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 injured in July, representing a 30 percent increase compared with June and a 70 percent increase compared with July 2025. The number of civilians killed was the highest monthly figure since May 2022, while child casualties—17 killed and 166 injured—were the highest since April 2022. Long-range missiles and drones accounted for 38 percent of civilian casualties, while casualties caused by short-range drones near the front line reached their highest monthly level since the start of the war.
The Black Sea has also become an increasingly significant theatre of escalation. The HRMMU recorded at least 39 attacks on vessels and seaport infrastructure in the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions in July, which killed 19 port and vessel personnel and injured 25 others. At the same time, Ukraine has continued attacks against Russian and Russia-linked maritime logistics. On 12 August, Ukrainian forces reportedly struck Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, damaging naval vessels and forcing two grain terminals to suspend operations. The reciprocal attacks have disrupted commercial shipping during the peak grain-export season and reportedly contributed to rising global wheat prices.
Ukraine has also continued its long-range campaign against targets inside Russia, including oil refineries, logistics centres, and other infrastructure that Kyiv says supports Moscow’s war effort. On 16 August, Ukrainian drones struck the Moscow region, where Russian authorities reported that one civilian was killed and several others injured. Briefing at the 27 July Council 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 Russian local authorities reported that 250 civilians had been killed and 1,596 injured inside Russia during the first half of 2026.
Diplomatic efforts have continued but have yet to produce a substantive breakthrough. On 11 August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv had provided US presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner with proposals for ending the war, although he did not disclose their contents. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov subsequently said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be willing to receive the US envoys again, while questioning what substantive proposals they would bring. Separately, 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—are scheduled to meet on Monday in Kyiv to discuss continued support for Ukraine.
There have also been efforts to limit hostilities in the Black Sea. Türkiye has advocated for a moratorium on military operations there, while Ukraine reportedly conveyed through a third party a proposal for both sides to halt attacks on civilian shipping in the Black Sea. Russia rejected the idea, arguing that such measures would amount to “half-measures” that would give Ukraine time to regroup.
Humanitarian confidence-building measures have nonetheless continued. On 19 August, Russia and Ukraine each exchanged 103 prisoners of war (POWs), and Ukrainian intelligence said another exchange was expected before the end of the month.
At Monday’s meeting, DiCarlo is likely to express concern about the continued escalation of attacks and reiterate the 31 July call by Secretary-General António Guterres for an urgent de-escalation, leading to a full, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire. She may also highlight the growing risks to maritime navigation and global food security and call on all parties to ensure freedom of navigation in accordance with international law. In a 6 August statement, Guterres condemned both the latest large-scale Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and recent Ukrainian drone attacks on several regions of Russia that reportedly caused civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.
Fletcher is likely to focus on the humanitarian consequences of the war and the growing risks faced by civilians and aid workers. During a visit to Kherson this week, he highlighted the pervasive use of short-range drones in populated areas, describing how such weapons have become part of daily life for civilians and humanitarian personnel. Fletcher warned that increasingly cheap and sophisticated drones are extending the reach of warfare and placing lethal capabilities in the hands of more actors, while impunity for the use of such weapons grows. On Monday, he may stress that, although the technology is evolving rapidly, the obligations of international humanitarian law (IHL) remain unchanged, including the requirement to protect civilians and humanitarian personnel.
Council members are expected to remain divided in their assessments of responsibility for the continued escalation and the prospects for diplomacy. The E5 members are likely to condemn Russia’s recent missile and drone attacks, emphasise the sharp rise in civilian casualties, and reiterate calls for Moscow to accept an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. They may also highlight the deterioration of maritime security in the Black Sea and its potential consequences for global food security. This issue may receive particular attention given that Denmark will convene a high-level open debate on Tuesday (25 August) titled “Food Under Fire: The Security Council’s Role in Mitigating Global and Local Food Crises”, which is the signature event of its August Council presidency.
The US is expected to reiterate its call for an immediate ceasefire and for both Russia and Ukraine to negotiate in good faith, while stressing Washington’s role in facilitating diplomatic contacts.
Several other members—including Bahrain, China, Pakistan, and Somalia—may focus on de-escalation, civilian protection, and the need to prevent a wider regional confrontation. Some might also express concern about attacks by both sides, including those affecting commercial shipping, and emphasise that there is no military solution to the conflict.
Nuclear safety may also feature in Council members’ statements following an incident this week in which a drone explosion at a bus stop used by staff of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) reportedly caused 20 casualties, including one death. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi described the incident as “unacceptable” and called for an end to attacks on nuclear power plants and their personnel.
Russia, for its part, is expected to reject allegations that it deliberately targets civilians and argue that its strikes are directed against military-industrial, logistics, and other facilities supporting the Ukrainian armed forces. It is likely to accuse Western Council members of focusing selectively on Russian attacks while overlooking Ukrainian strikes inside Russia and against Russian shipping and infrastructure. Russia may also highlight recent Ukrainian drone attacks in the Moscow region, including repeated strikes against warehouses of the Russian online retailer Wildberries, which the company has described as “acts of terrorism”. It is likely to reject calls for an unconditional or limited ceasefire, maintaining that such arrangements fail to address what it describes as the conflict’s “root causes” and could provide Ukraine with an opportunity to regroup.
