UN delegate condemns attacks on civilians in Ukraine, urges support for $2.6 billion 2025 humanitarian plan

Rosemarie DeCampo, a delegate, told a United Nations session that civilians in Ukraine have endured three years of devastation since Russia’s full-scale invasion and that humanitarian needs remain acute, with an estimated 12,700,000 people requiring assistance in 2025 and $2,600,000,000 needed to meet urgent needs.

DeCampo said the invasion was “launched in brazen violation of the UN Charter and international law” and warned that civilian harm increased in 2024. Citing the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), she said the total number of civilians killed and injured in 2024 was about 30% higher than the year before and that “more children were killed or injured in the first 3 quarters of 2024 than in all of 2023.”

The delegate recited OHCHR figures for the full period from February 2022 through Dec. 31, 2024: at least 12,456 civilians killed, including 669 children, and 28,382 civilians injured, including 1,833 children. She said verified attacks on schools and hospitals increased in 2024, with more than 580 educational and health facilities damaged or destroyed within nine months.

DeCampo described several recent incidents she said had amplified the humanitarian crisis: a reported Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia on Jan. 9 that killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 100; a reported strike in Donetsk on Jan. 10 that killed two civilians at a supermarket and wounded two others; and a drone attack that struck a vehicle of the International Atomic Energy Agency near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Dec. 10. She added that a December strike on Kyiv damaged six foreign embassies.

She also raised the safety of aid and diplomatic personnel: “Diplomatic and international personnel and assets must be protected at all times,” and noted that 10 aid workers were killed and 41 were injured in the line of duty in the past year. DeCampo said hostilities in the last two weeks had forced new displacements of more than 1,600 people, including children, primarily in Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.

On prisoners and alleged abuses, DeCampo said there were reports of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian forces; she cited an OHCHR December assessment that found allegations of 19 incidents since August involving the killing of 62 individuals were credible and that the Russian Federation has used widespread and systematic torture against Ukrainian prisoners of war. She said allegations of torture by Ukrainian forces against Russian prisoners of war have also been documented and noted that Ukrainian authorities reported opening investigations into those accusations.

DeCampo welcomed reported recent prisoner exchanges, saying Russia and Ukraine conducted an exchange the day before that allowed 50 people to return to their homes and that an exchange of more than 300 prisoners of war occurred on Dec. 30. She said the delegations involved should increase the scope and pace of such exchanges.

Turning to humanitarian funding, DeCampo said donors provided more than $2,200,000,000 in 2024, enabling the United Nations to reach roughly 8,500,000 people, about 60% of them women and girls. She urged the international community to fully support the 2025 humanitarian needs and response plan for Ukraine to sustain operations in an increasingly complex and dangerous environment.

DeCampo condemned attacks that damage civilian infrastructure and said they worsen winter hardships and energy shortages: “We condemn such reprehensible tactics, which terrorize the civilian population and deprive it of basic services,” she said. “They must end.”

She closed by saying the UN leadership stood ready to assist diplomatic and peace efforts: “The secretary general’s good offices remain available to support all good faith efforts to find a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in line with the UN Charter, international law, and General Assembly resolutions.”