GENEVA

The UN Human Rights Council voted Monday to have an urgent debate on the Russia-Ukraine war.

The debate was proposed by Yevheniia Filipenko, Ukraine's ambassador to the UN, which was rejected by Moscow's UN representative Gennady Gatilov.

A vote was called and adopted with 29 votes in favor, five against it, and 13 abstentions. the UN said the debate will take place Thursday.

"Russia, a member of this council, perpetrated an unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine. It was an attack not only on Ukraine, it was an attack on every UN member state, on the United Nations, and on the principles that this organization was created to defend," said Filipenko.

Gatilov, for his part, said: "Before us, we have nothing other than the usual attempt to distract the attention of the international community away from what they have been doing for nearly eight years now, which is a targeted destruction of completely innocent people in Donetsk and Luhansk."

Escalating rights violations

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the start of the session in a video message that Russia's escalation of "military operations in Ukraine" is leading to escalating human rights violations.

"We know the inevitable result of war: civilian casualties; women, children, and men forced from their homes: hunger, poverty and huge economic disruption," said Guterres.

"Conflict is the utter negation of human rights across the board. Freedom of expression is under attack with reports of journalists and activists arrested," he said, referring to Russian arrests of those against the war in Ukraine.

In her opening remarks, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet described the current situation in the world today as "a tipping point."

"The military attack on Ukraine is putting at risk countless lives. Between Thursday morning and last night, our office has recorded 406 civilian casualties, including 102 killed – including seven children – and 304 injured," said Bachelet.

"Most of these civilians were killed by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and airstrikes. The real figures are, I fear, considerably higher."

At least 500,000 flee from Ukraine

According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, over 500,000 people have fled Ukraine so far, while many more are internally displaced.

Bachelet said: "My thoughts go out to them and to all those across the world who suffer."

"Meanwhile, millions of civilians, including vulnerable and older people, are forced to huddle in different forms of bomb shelters, such as underground stations, to escape explosions," she noted.

Swiss President Ignazio Cassis for the host country said: “We are all bearing witness to a turn of events that many of us did not feel to be possible.

"War is raging in the heart of Europe once again. I am profoundly sad that I'm having to say that here in Geneva, an emblematic city representative of peace, human rights, humanitarianism, and multilateralism."

He said Russia's "military intervention … violates the most fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter, which was based on the ruins of two world wars, and emerged from those."