“These are deliberate Russian attacks on our powerplants and entire energy grid,” he said, noting that it has destroyed all Ukrainian thermal power plants and a large part of the hydro-electric capacity. “This is how [President] Putin is preparing for winter, hoping to torment millions of Ukrainians – ordinary families, women and children, and ordinary
Read MoreWarning the Security Council, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu said that since the last briefing on weapons transfers only two weeks ago, the provision of military assistance and transfer of arms and ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces have continued in the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in violation of the
Read MoreOn Friday, Mr. Gershkovich was handed a 16-year prison sentence on spying charges in a Russian court. The reporter was arrested in Russia in 2023 and has been held there since, despite calls for his release. That same day, Ms. Kurmasheva received a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence for “spreading fake news about the Russian army.” She has been arbitrarily detained
Read MoreCondemning the daytime attacks, the UN’s top aid coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, said that several cities were targeted, including the capital, Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih and Pokrovsk. The attacks happened just “as people were starting their day. Dozens of people have been killed and injured,” said Ms. Brown, who reported heavy damage to the children’s hospital
Read MoreVolker Türk said he was concerned by the increasing number of journalists charged, convicted and jailed for their independent reporting, in what appears to be an intensification of a crackdown on dissenting voices. He described the continuous attacks on free speech and the criminalization of independent journalism in Russia as “very troubling”. “The intensification of the crackdown on journalists’ independent
Read MoreThe 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested last March in Yekatarinburg on espionage charges and is being held at the infamous Lefortovo prison in Moscow. Mariana Katzarova, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, and Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression,
Read MoreSpeaking exclusively to UN News, she said her office had raised repeated concerns over the past months, among them, over Mr. Navalny’s deteriorating health. Arrested in 2021, the 47-year-old anti-corruption activist was serving multiple sentences on charges, including extremism. “It’s very shocking that this happened today less than a month before the Russian presidential election,
Read MoreMr. Navalny, 47, had lost consciousness and could not be revived, according to media reports. “If someone dies in the custody of the State, the presumption is that the State is responsible – a responsibility that can only be rebutted through an impartial, thorough and transparent investigation carried out by an independent body,” said OHCHR
Read MoreThe 117-page judgement contained rulings on seven matters in Ukraine’s case against Russia claiming that Moscow funded pro-Russian separatists in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and the Crimean peninsula. The court ruled that Russia had failed to investigate persons who allegedly breached parts of the Convention against Financing Terrorism. In terms of Russia’s actions in Crimea after
Read MoreAt least 18 civilians were killed and more than 100 injured in an attack on Belgorod, said Khaled Khiari, Assistant Secretary-General in the UN Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (UN DPPA), briefing the Council on the latest developments. Russia had called for the emergency meeting following reported attacks on Belogorod. Located about 40 km
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