Russia’s war in Ukraine enters deadliest phase since 2022
Russia’s war in Ukraine has reached one of its deadliest phases since the early months of the war that started in February 2022, the UN human rights chief said Monday.
Highest monthly toll of killed and injured in July
Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council that July marked the highest monthly toll of killed and injured civilians since May 2022, as Russian forces stepped up missile and drone barrages nationwide, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported.
“Russia’s war in Ukraine has turned even more deadly … Recent weeks have witnessed some of the most massive air strikes since the war began, with countrywide drone and missile saturation attacks resuming and intensifying,” he said.
He said deliberate strikes on energy systems and other civilian infrastructure “are grave violations of international law,” stressing that Ukrainian prisoners of war and arbitrarily detained civilians face systematic torture and ill-treatment.
In occupied territories, Russian authorities are imposing their own laws and restricting movement and expression, Türk said, adding his office continues to document violations committed by both sides.
“Negotiations to stop the fighting need to focus on immediate steps to protect civilians and safeguard the rights of people in occupied territory, as well as end torture and ill treatment,” Türk said. He underscored that lasting peace is only possible through full respect for international law.
Ukraine reports new Russian airstrike on energy system after major attack
Ukraine on Monday said a new Russian airstrike targeted its energy system, a day after it said Moscow launched a major attack on the war-torn country that also struck a government building.
A statement by the Energy Ministry said a thermal generation site in the Kyiv region was under heavy fire during the overnight attack, which it said intended to “inflict even greater hardship on Ukraine’s civilian population” and leave homes and public buildings without electricity, Anadolu wrote.
“Power generation facilities, transmission and distribution systems, and gas infrastructure are not military targets. The enemy fully understands it is striking critical civilian infrastructure,” the statement said.
The ministry added that specialists were working to eliminate the consequences of the attack, doing “everything possible to stabilise the situation as soon as possible.”
Earlier, Ukraine’s air force claimed that air defences shot down 112 of 142 drones launched by Russia overnight. Kyiv on Sunday said it downed 747 of 810 drones, and four of 13 various missiles launched by Moscow.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on the US social media company X that the attack targeted residential buildings, government offices, and civilian infrastructure, and also inflicted damage to the government building, a first since the conflict began.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday that it launched a mass strike on “facilities where long-range drones had been manufactured, assembled, repaired, stocked, and launched,” as well as military airbases in central, southern, and eastern Ukraine, including an industrial enterprise and logistics base in Kyiv.
It claimed that the strike successfully achieved its objectives, denying that other facilities within the Ukrainian capital had been targeted. Russian authorities did not immediately comment on Ukraine’s latest claims. Both Moscow and Kyiv have regularly denied targeting civilians in the over three-and-a-half-year-long armed conflict.
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