Diplomacy Under Fire: UN Presses Russia After Kyiv Attack

Security Council meeting on maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine. June 20, 2025|UNPhoto

By ATN News

Despite one of the deadliest aerial assaults on Kyiv in nearly a year, United Nations Security Council members on Wednesday voiced cautious optimism that renewed diplomatic overtures could pave the way toward a ceasefire in Ukraine’s protracted war with Russia.

Assistant Secretary-General Miroslav Jenča painted a grim picture in his briefing to the Council, recounting large-scale Russian missile and drone attacks on seven districts across Kyiv between June 16 and 17. The barrage claimed at least 28 civilian lives and injured over 130 — part of a wider campaign that targeted seven Ukrainian regions with more than 428 projectiles. “This was one of the deadliest attacks on the capital in nearly a year,” Jenča noted, warning that the 47% spike in civilian casualties in 2025 compared to the same period last year could derail fragile ceasefire prospects.

Yet, against the backdrop of escalating violence, Jenča also highlighted “important diplomatic developments,” including a second round of direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations earlier this month and a large-scale exchange of prisoners, remains, and detainees — signs, he argued, that dialogue has not been entirely eclipsed by battlefield calculations. "The levels of death and destruction risk dimming hope for an immediate ceasefire,” Jenča told Council members. “We must redouble the efforts to ensure that the fragile diplomatic process is not only sustained but becomes irreversible.”

Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), echoed those warnings, emphasizing that nearly 13 million people remain in urgent need of assistance. Over 20% of Ukraine’s land is now contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance, making it the most heavily mined country since World War II. “Civilians have found no respite from continuing violence,” Wosornu stated, adding that 68 humanitarian missions have been impacted by attacks and that the 2025 response plan is only 31% funded.

As calls to halt the bloodshed reverberated through the chamber, multiple delegations urged the Russian Federation to accept Ukraine’s offer of a 30-day, unconditional ceasefire. Slovenia’s representative accused Moscow of using missile strikes to sabotage negotiations. “We are waiting for just one more to join,” she said, signaling near-unanimous Council support for a ceasefire — with Russia the lone holdout.

France was blunt. “Russia doesn’t want peace,” its envoy said. “Civilians are being deliberately targeted… this is a strategy of terror.” Similar denunciations came from the United Kingdom, the United States, and several EU members, who charged that Russia’s ongoing assault reflects not just military tactics but an entrenched rejection of diplomacy.

The representative of Ukraine, speaking in increasingly exasperated terms, ridiculed Moscow’s denials of civilian targeting: “If it wasn’t Russia shelling our homes, then who else could it be? Aliens? Darth Vader and his Death Star?” He reiterated that Kyiv remains open to peace, but only if Russia stops using negotiations as a stalling tactic while raining missiles on Ukrainian cities.

Russia’s envoy defended his country’s military campaign, claiming that only military infrastructure was being targeted and that Ukraine was distorting facts to gain sympathy. “We are, once again, forced to listen to fairytales about big, bad, imperialist Russia,” he said, dismissing Kyiv’s reports as propaganda.

China, using a more neutral tone, quoted a proverb to encourage more talks: "Three-foot-thick ice does not form overnight." This showed that there is still a long way to go before the conflict is over.

Members of the council from all over the world, including Pakistan, Algeria, Sierra Leone, Greece, and Guyana, backed ongoing peace efforts. They said that military options have not worked and that only dialogue can lead to a lasting solution. Several nations, including Norway, the Baltic states, and Germany, described the Kyiv attacks as part of a wider Russian terror campaign designed to cripple Ukrainian resolve.

“How the war ends matter,” Germany’s representative concluded. “Not just for Ukraine or Europe, but for every Member State of this Organization.”

As the war enters another deadly phase, the Council finds itself at a familiar impasse — voicing support for peace but hamstrung by the veto power of a belligerent party. Calls for a 30-day ceasefire remain on the table. Whether they will be heeded or shelved alongside prior appeals remains, for now, unanswered.