UN stresses the need for de-escalation in Ukraine war as attacks rise

This article is published in association with United Nations.

The United Nations continues to warn against the dangerous escalation in the war in Ukraine, a senior official told the Security Council on Monday, underlining the need for restraint and dialogue. 

Romania requested the urgent meeting after a Russian drone entered its airspace on Friday night, hitting an apartment building in the eastern city of Galaţi. Two residents – a woman and a child – were injured. 

“Last Friday, a dangerous incident crystallized our oft-stated warnings about potential spillover of the war,” said Kayoko Gotoh, a Director in the UN political and peace departments. 

She noted that although this was not the first reported breach of Romanian airspace by an armed drone since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the first time such an incident resulted in casualties. 

‘A worrying trend’ 

It also “came on the heels of a worrying trend of drone incursions into the airspaces and territorial waters of countries bordering either Ukraine or the Russian Federation,” she added. 

In the past 12 months, incidents have been reported by Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, as well as three countries in the wider region: Bulgaria, Greece and Türkiye.  

“The Galaţi incident comes amidst a sharp escalation of large-scale missile and drone attacks by the armed forces of the Russian Federation on Ukrainian towns and cities, resulting in ever worsening toll of civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure,” she said. 

“There has also been a marked increase in Ukrainian attacks on military, energy and industrial infrastructure in the Russian Federation, which have reportedly resulted in a growing number of civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure.” 

Nuclear safety fears 

Ms. Gotoh recalled that the meeting was held a week after UN Secretary-General António Guterres stressed that the dangerous trajectory of escalation and intensification risks getting out of control, and “the course must change.” 

Furthermore, “the risk of miscalculation is particularly dangerous for the safety of nuclear facilities”—something that increased in recent days. 

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was informed on 30 May that a drone struck a turbine building at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, causing a hole in the wall. This marked the first such attack within the plant’s perimeter in two years. 

Concluding her remarks, Ms. Gotoh emphasised that “amidst heightened tensions, it is incumbent on all concerned to act responsibly and to refrain from any action that could destabilize the situation further.”  

She underlined the UN’s support for efforts towards dialogue to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in Ukraine “that contributes to a more stable regional and international environment.” 

Russia rejects accusation, calls for ‘objective’ probe 

Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said Romania “hastily convened” the meeting and “immediately put forward unfounded and biased accusations” against his country.

“We believe that the main purpose of today’s meeting is to satisfy demand by Western countries to generate yet another wave of anti-Russian media hype at any cost,” he said. 

He told the Council that Russian forces had conducted operations targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure that night in response to “terrorist attacks carried out by the Kyiv regime”. 

The strikes targeted facilities in the port of Reni and the Odessa region, through which Western countries supply military goods to Ukraine. 

He said that according to Romania, there was an impact in Galaţi allegedly involving a Russian Geran-2 drone that struck the roof of an apartment building.  These drones have a payload of roughly 50 kilogrammes of explosives. 

“If such a drone had, as claimed, indeed hit the roof of a building…the roof would have been destroyed completely,” he said. 

Mr. Nebenzya called for “a thorough, objective and depoliticised” investigation into the full circumstances. 

Romania: Escalation must not be ‘the new normal’ 

Romanian foreign minister Oana-Silvia Ţoiu stressed that “the seriousness of this moment cannot be overstated.” 

This marked the first time that her country has called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council on a matter of direct concern to its security.   

“We have a joint responsibility not just to draw a line, but to make sure that we do not move that line,” she said.

“It is imperative for the Council to address such unnecessary escalation by the Russian Federation in its war of aggression…We should not consider this current escalation as the new normal.” 

Ukraine criticises Russian ‘denial and distortion’ 

Ukraine’s representative remarked that the Russian Ambassador “continues to sing the same old song…and relying on the well-worn patterns of denial and distortion.” 

He said Ukraine has full confidence in the Romanian authorities’ conclusion “that this was indeed a Russian drone, and nothing else.” 

He added that “what happened in Romania was not a single instance and must be taken seriously.”