UN warns Ukraine war 'becoming deadlier by the day' as civilian toll mounts

The UN said Tuesday that the war in Ukraine is intensifying on all fronts, with record civilian casualties, attacks on humanitarian convoys and a massive funding shortfall threatening to overwhelm relief efforts.

"Well into its fifth year, the war in Ukraine is becoming deadlier by the day," Kayoko Gotoh, director of the Europe and Central Asia Division for the UN Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, told the Security Council.

Noting that last month at least 238 civilians were killed and 1,404 injured in "the highest monthly number of civilian casualties recorded since July 2025," Gotoh called it "a continuing pattern of rising civilian harm."

Since February 2022, she stated that the UN's human rights office has verified at least 15,850 civilians killed, including 791 children, with another 44,809 injured.

She pointed to last week's aerial bombardment as "one of the largest" since Russia's war on Ukraine began in February 2022. "We strongly condemn all attacks against civilian and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur," she said.

Gotoh welcomed a prisoner exchange mediated by the US, under which 205 prisoners from each side were returned May 15 as a first step toward a larger swap of 2,000. She urged both sides to "finalize the details and fully implement all phases of the agreed large-scale exchange."

Warning that one year had passed since direct negotiations resumed with little progress, she urged both parties to return to the table without delay. "Negotiations should resume without further delays to prevent further escalation," said Gotoh.

Echoing those concerns, Edem Wosornu, director of the operations and advocacy division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the Council that humanitarian workers came under repeated attack last week, with two UN convoys struck while "carrying life-saving assistance to civilians in need," both having notified authorities through established channels in advance.

"Between January and April of this year, three humanitarian workers were killed and 10 others injured," she said, warning that the weapons being deployed were "rapidly changing what it means to deliver life-saving assistance."

She stressed that "attacking them directly is strictly prohibited and can amount to war crimes."

Wosornu said the UN was reaching only a fraction of the 10.8 million people requiring help, with nearly three-quarters of the $2.3 billion needed still unfunded, "almost $1.7 billion" short.

Conveying her messages to the Council, Wosornu urged ensuring international humanitarian law is respected and providing timely funding.

She warned that delays force "impossible choices about who receives assistance and who does not."