Ukraine: Civilian Harm, Infrastructure Strikes & Drone Attacks - Briefing | United Nations

Briefing Council members today in New York, OCHA’s Director of Crisis Response Division, Edem Wosornu, said, “Since we last briefed this Council two weeks ago, civilian harm and suffering have deepened including over this past weekend. More families have been forced to endure the all-too-familiar pattern of this war: attacks, destruction, loss, another night without safety. On June 15th, strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv damaged homes and critical infrastructure, leaving well over 100,000 households without power.” Edem Wosornu also said, “In Kyiv, the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage site at the heart of Ukraine's religious and cultural life, was struck and damaged. This site carries centuries of cultural heritage – history and identity – that must be protected.” She also said, “In Kharkiv, rescuers responding to an earlier strike were themselves hit when a second one followed. This fits a documented pattern. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has found repeated strikes on ambulances, rescue teams and aid workers – in some cases as you heard hit twice, as they returned to help. Civilians have also been struck when simply going about daily life: in cars, on buses, in their gardens.” Wosornu added, “The Mission records that more civilians were killed and injured by short-range drones in May than in any month since February 2022. Technological advances in warfare are expanding the zone of danger for civilians, which is no longer confined by the reach of artillery.”


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