The United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called on Russia and Ukraine to exercise restraint in light of recent mutual attacks, which resulted in civilian casualties.
His office highlighted on the X platform, formerly Twitter, that there is a worrying escalation of hostilities. Dozens of civilians have been killed in Ukraine and Russia.
“Alarming escalation of hostilities, dozens of civilians killed in Ukraine & Russia. Int’l humanitarian law prohibits indiscriminate attacks & attacks against civilian objects,” the UN statement read.
“Volker Türk urges immediate steps to de-escalate, ensure protection of civilians & respect int’l law.”
The number of Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine has increased recently. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia had launched hundreds of missiles and drones over the past five days, killing or wounding many people.
Russian authorities said that 24 civilians were killed by Ukrainian fire in the Russian city of Belgorod at the weekend, which is the largest loss of its kind for Russia in nearly two years of war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin later announced the intensification of attacks on Ukraine.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday condemned the killing of several children in Russian airstrikes on Ukraine.
“The new year began with loss, pain, and suffering for the people of Ukraine,” OCHA said in a statement. “For the third day in a row, widespread airstrikes by the Russian Federation have killed and injured many people and destroyed homes and other civilian infrastructure.”
