Intensified hostilities in Ukraine, the Russian Federation and surrounding maritime corridors are exacting a devastating toll on civilians and imperiling global food security, senior UN officials warned the Security Council today, citing attacks on third-party merchant vessels and a 20 per cent spike in wheat prices since the start of July.
Kayoko Gotoh, Director and Officer in Charge for Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas for the Office of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, warned the 15-member Council that the rapidly intensifying hostilities are killing civilians and posing far-reaching threats to global food security.
"We must not allow this dangerous escalatory spiral to continue," she stressed, emphasizing the urgent need for renewed diplomacy.
Since her office last briefed the Council on 9 July , some 170 civilians have reportedly been killed and more than 1,000 injured across Ukraine in intensified aerial attacks. Kyiv remains under "near-constant bombardment", with at least 56 civilians killed and 232 injured in July alone.
Summertime Escalation Targets Homes, Markets, Camps
Residential buildings, markets, warehouses and other civilian sites have been repeatedly struck, she said. On 24 July, guided aerial bombs hit Sloviansk in the Donetsk region, reportedly killing 6 people and injuring 9 others, while an earlier strike in Sumy on 11 July killed 5 civilians, including a child, and injured 41 others.
Noting that the Odesa region has been particularly hard hit, she added: "The summertime escalation has had an increasingly destructive impact on the areas of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation." Occupation authorities reported that a drone attack on a holiday camp in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region on 26 July killed 12 people, including 5 children. In Crimea and Sevastopol, drone strikes on electrical substations have reportedly caused prolonged power and water outages.
Russian Federation authorities also report rising civilian casualties from Ukrainian strikes, she said. On 24 July, attacks on industrial and logistical centres in the Kirov region reportedly killed six people and injured more than two dozen. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded more than 1,800 civilian casualties in the Russian Federation during the first half of 2026 - a 121 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2025.
Attacks on Black Sea Ports Causing Spike in Wheat Prices
Voicing particular concern over renewed attacks on Black Sea ports, civilian vessels and agricultural infrastructure, she said ports in Odesa, Chornomorsk, Pivdennyi, Izmail and Mykolaiv have come under sustained attack.
In one such recent case, she said, a missile strike on a Guinea-Bissau-flagged grain vessel near Odesa reportedly killed 10 people, while another attack on a Togolese-flagged ship killed 5 and injured 10. More than 100 vessels have also reportedly been struck in the Sea of Azov this month, disrupting maritime navigation.
Citing data from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), she said wheat prices have jumped by 20 per cent since the beginning of July and are now at their highest since March 2024. Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant's twenty-second complete loss of off-site power since the war began.
Reiterating that attacks on civilians, civilian infrastructure and nuclear facilities are illegal under international humanitarian law, she urged maximum restraint, renewed dialogue and inclusive negotiations to secure an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire. The UN stands fully ready to support those efforts, she added.
Warring Parties Bear Primary Responsibility to Protect Civilians
"Every day, humanitarian organizations continue to respond across Ukraine," said Indrika Ratwatte, Acting Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, who also briefed the Council today.
He said that includes in Odesa and Mykolaiv - where homes, buses and energy infrastructure have been struck - and in Kharkiv, Dnipro, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia, where repeated aerial attacks continue to disrupt daily life. Humanitarians are also responding in Kyiv, where families are again clearing debris from apartment buildings, and in front-line communities where shelling and drone attacks remain a daily reality.
"We must not allow such repeated attacks to make this suffering seem so routine," he warned. Also expressing concern over reports of civilians harmed in the Russian Federation, he pointed out that, as the tactics and scope of the conflict shift, so, too, are the ways in which humanitarian organizations work. Amid a rapidly changing conflict landscape, "practical humanitarian arrangements can save lives".
While praising aid workers' ability to swiftly adapt, he nevertheless warned: "Our determination should not be confused with acceptance." Nor should the extraordinary determination of civilians be mistaken for an unlimited ability to endure suffering. While humanitarian organizations will continue to do everything they can, the responsibility to spare civilians and meet their basic needs rests squarely with the warring parties, he said, adding: "International law is not optional."
Global Economy 'Straining' under Weight of War against Ukraine
Following those briefings, Council members took the floor to express their views. Many pleaded for a swift return to the negotiating table by both parties. Others drew attention to the increase in attacks on vessels carrying energy and agricultural supplies, sounding alarm over their possible impact on an already fragile global landscape.
"Russia is not only killing innocent civilians, but it directly imperiling the food security of millions of individuals, particularly in Africa and the Middle East," said the representative of France. He denounced Moscow's policy of ratcheting up air strikes on Ukrainian cities and renewing its attacks on Ukrainian agricultural exports, adding that the Kremlin "clearly and brazenly refuses to give peace negotiations a chance".
Liberia's representative warned that, when maritime trade routes become "shooting galleries", insurance costs spikes, supply chains stall and the prices of energy and food surge - especially in developing countries. As the world's leading flag State, representing 17 per cent of global merchant shipping, "we speak from the decks of targeted civilian vessels on behalf of targeted civilian crews […] and an international economy straining under the weight of the war in Ukraine", he said.
Moscow Intensifying Civilian Attacks as Battlefield Pressure Mounts
Several delegates described the recent escalation - and Moscow's renewed attacks on agricultural shipments - as an attempt by the Russian Federation to deflect from its worsening performance on the battlefield.
"Unable to break Ukraine's resistance, Russia seeks to terrorize the population through intensified so-called 'human safari' drone attacks near the front lines," said Estonia's delegate, speaking on behalf of the Baltic States. With the harvest season under way, Moscow is now attacking grain-carrying civilian cargo ships, deliberately disrupting Ukraine's maritime export corridor, she said.
The representative of the European Union, speaking in its capacity as observer and echoed by the representative of the United Kingdom, agreed with that assessment. "By every standard it has set for itself", the Russian Federation is not achieving its objectives, he said. "It stands isolated internationally, and its economy is under heavy strain." Urging Moscow to end its aggression and come to the negotiating table, he noted that the European Union has mobilized over €200 billion to support Ukraine in exercising its right to self-defence.
"Russia can destroy buildings, [but] it cannot break Ukraine's will for freedom, nor weaken our unwavering support for it," said Latvia's representative. Citing Moscow's recent destruction of a building housing her country's consulate in the Ukrainian city of Sloviansk - which killed several people - he said the war's consequences now extend far beyond Ukraine.
Several speakers, including the representatives of Denmark, Poland, Panama and Greece, voiced their solidarity with Latvia and condemned what they described as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Kyiv Decries 'Deliberate' Terrorism, as Moscow points to Western Complicity, Others Call for Ceasefire
Ukraine's representative said Moscow's escalating attacks against civilians and commercial shipping vessels is an intentional strategy shift. "This was not an accident or collateral damage - it was yet another barbaric act of terror against civilians," he said. He contrasted Moscow's actions with Ukraine's exercise of self-defence and urged the UN to protect freedom of navigation and seafarers' safety.
"Both Ukraine and Russia must return to the negotiating table," said the representative of the United States, emphasizing that "far too much blood has been spilled" in the conflict already. Calling for an immediate ceasefire and good-faith negotiations, he said the United States is prepared to facilitate talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
"Russia, Ukraine and the European countries are neighbours - they cannot move away from one another," said China's delegate, describing the recent escalation by both sides as "extremely dangerous". The parties should exercise restraint, protect civilians and remain open to dialogue with a view towards long-term common security, he said.
The representatives of Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia, Bahrain and Somalia were among those who strongly echoed those calls for dialogue.
The representative of the Russian Federation, meanwhile, cited numerous recent strikes by "Ukrainian Nazis" in her country - including on civilian targets. Kyiv is engineering such attacks to create a false backdrop of military success, she said. "The complicity of Western countries in these attacks is beyond doubt," she stressed, urging European nations to end what amounts to a foreign intervention.
