Pakistan has called for an early end to the hostilities in Ukraine, after a top United Nations official told the Security Council that the fighting was escalating – as the third anniversary of the Russian military intervention in that Eastern European country approaches.
“We are holding this meeting at a critical juncture,” Ambassador Usman Jadoon, deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, told the 15-member Council on Thursday.
Next month, he said, would mark three years since the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, with the situation continuing to be a cause for “grave concern”, in particular the disproportionate toll that this conflict has had on the lives of civilians.
“Equally disturbing and deplorable is the considerable material damage and loss of civilian infrastructure,” Ambassador Jadoon said.
In a briefing to the Security Council, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, said that the recent holiday and New Year season brought no respite in Ukraine, but rather an escalation and even expansion of the fighting, consistent with developments in 2024.
“Most disturbingly, in 2024 we witnessed an alarming rise in the toll of civilian casualties,” Ms. DiCarlo said.
She said the total number of civilians killed and injured last year was 30 per cent higher than in 2023, citing figures from the UN human rights office, OHCHR.
In his remarks, Ambassador Jadoon, the Pakistani envoy, warned that further escalation would only exacerbate the current crisis.
“We need an early cessation of hostilities and a solution that brings sustainable and lasting peace,” he said.
“My delegation would like to underscore the need for giving primacy to dialogue and diplomacy rather than further fueling and escalating the conflict,” the Pakistani envoy said, adding that the solution lay in dialogue and negotiations – not on the battlefield.
“Pakistan stands ready to play a constructive role to promote diplomatic endeavours aimed at bringing an end to this conflict, in accordance with international law and the UN Charter,” Ambassador Jadoon added.
Under-Secretary-General DiCarlo also said, “Hostilities in the last two weeks have forced new displacements, with more than 1,600 people, including children, fleeing frontline areas, primarily in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, according to local authorities,” she said.
Civilian casualties were also recorded in Russian-occupied territories, she said. An alleged Ukrainian strike on a supermarket in Donetsk city on 10 January reportedly left two people dead, and two others injured.
Ms. DiCarlo reiterated the UN’s unequivocal condemnation of all attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, adding that they must cease.
The daily attacks have also made things increasingly difficult for the diplomatic community and international organizations operating in Ukraine, it was pointed out.
A 20 December strike on the capital, Kyiv, damaged six foreign embassies. Days before, a drone attack struck a vehicle belonging to the UN nuclear energy agency, IAEA, near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, located in the south.
“For humanitarian workers, too, this was another difficult year. Ten aid workers were killed and 41 injured in the line of duty,” she said.
Ms. DiCarlo reported that as fierce fighting continues in the east and south of Ukraine, deadly clashes persist in Russia’s Kursk region, and the UN remains concerned over the impact on both sides of the border.
Furthermore, she said, there are reports that military personnel from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea, were captured in the Kursk region.
“The reported involvement of the (North Korean) troops in fighting alongside the Russian forces continues to raise serious concerns regarding further internationalization of this already dangerous conflict,” she said.
Ms. DiCarlo also addressed the dire humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. On Thursday, the UN and the Government launched a $2.6 billion plan to assist some six million people this year, which she urged the international community to fully support.
She noted that the number of those in need has decreased, from 14.6 million in 2024 to 12.7 million now, due to improved access to services in the capital and other major urban centres. However, conditions near the front lines have reached catastrophic levels.
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