UN / UKRAINE

Briefing the Security Council, UN humanitarian official Lisa Doughten warned that civilians in Ukraine are bearing the brunt of escalating Russian attacks, with casualties rising sharply. “As the use of long-range weapons has steadily increased since July, so has the civilian toll,” she said. UNIFEED

• Video Length: 00:04:15
• Production Date: 16 December 2024
• Asset Language: English; Russian
• Personal Subject: LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD; SERGIY KYSLYTSYA; VASSILY A. NEBENZIA
• Corporate Name: SECURITY COUNCIL
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE; POLITICAL AFFAIRS; WAR; CONFLICT SITUATION; SOVEREIGNTY; STATISTICS; TERRITORIAL CLAIMS; DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS
• Geographic Subject: UKRAINE; RUSSIAN FEDERATION
• MAMS Id: 3323517
• Parent Id: 3323038
• Alternate Title: unifeed241216b

Description

STORY: UN / UKRAINE
TRT: 04:15
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS

DATELINE: 16 DECEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, United Nations headquarters

16 DECEMBER 2024, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Partnerships Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“Dozens of civilians have been killed in recent attacks in the regions of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson, joining the thousands whose lives have already been claimed by this brutal war. And as the use of long-range weapons has steadily increased since July, so has the civilian toll. November saw a particularly deadly increase. Last month, long-range weapons killed 65 civilians and injured 372 across 11 regions of Ukraine, double the number of October.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Partnerships Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“According to UNDP, more than 60 per cent of energy generation facilities have now been damaged. Going into the coldest months of the year, civilians’ access to electricity, gas, heating and water has been severely affected.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Partnerships Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
“This year, the number of humanitarian aid workers killed in Ukraine has almost tripled – from four in 2022 and five in 2023, to 11 so far in 2024.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Partnerships Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA):
“We are extremely concerned about the plight of an estimated 1.5 million civilians in need of support in parts of the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia under Russian Federation occupation. We remain unable to reach these people at any adequate scale.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“We all had an opportunity to see for ourselves the former comedian going to great pains to kowtow before the Republicans who won the US election. He's been trying to shift the focus from the fact that Kyiv had bet on the Democrats. Zelensky and his team have been traveling across the US and its satellites with their hands outstretched, trying to secure the understanding that the new administration will not throw them under the bus.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“The Ukrainian leadership, past its expiration date, does not want to resolve the situation, and in fact, they repudiated Hungary's proposal to introduce a Christmas ceasefire and an exchange of prisoners. On our side, we drew up a list of prisoners, but the Zelensky regime, once again, rudely categorically rejected to take over the 600 servicemen who have been in Russia for more than a year.”
14. Wide shot, Security Council
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“Putin can at any time end the conflict that has not only killed Ukrainians, but hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers who could have been home with their families, but now are dead, tossed into a senseless conflict. It goes without saying Russia must dries forces from the sovereign territory of Ukraine, and Russia must pay for the damage it has caused in Ukraine, through its violations of international law, including international humanitarian law and the UN Charter.”
16. Med shot, Lisa Doughten
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Sergiy Kyslytsya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ukraine:
“Madam President, last Friday. Friday strike was the twelfths carried out by Russia against our energy infrastructure in 2024 alone. For these strikes, Russia used about 1100 missiles, both cruise and ballistic ones. I reiterate, this is a number of missed tiles launched against energy facilities only.”
18. Wide shot, Security Council
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Sergiy Kyslytsya, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ukraine:
“Last week, the city of Zaporizhzhia sustained two terrorist attacks by Russia. On 6th December, a guided aerial bomb killed eleven local residents, eight victims burned to death in their cars following the explosion, including a 14-year-old Tanya and 11-year-old Katya. 24 civilians were injured among them three children.”
20. Wide shot, end of Security Council

Storyline

Briefing the Security Council, UN humanitarian official Lisa Doughten warned that civilians in Ukraine are bearing the brunt of escalating Russian attacks, with casualties rising sharply. “As the use of long-range weapons has steadily increased since July, so has the civilian toll,” she said.

Lisa Doughten, Director of Financing and Partnerships Division at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told the Security Council today (Dec16), “Dozens of civilians have been killed in recent attacks in the regions of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson, joining the thousands whose lives have already been claimed by this brutal war.” She also noted, “November saw a particularly deadly increase. Last month, long-range weapons killed 65 civilians and injured 372 across 11 regions of Ukraine, double the number of October.”

Adding to the crisis, damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has severely affected access to basic utilities. “According to UNDP, more than 60 percent of energy generation facilities have now been damaged. Going into the coldest months of the year, civilians’ access to electricity, gas, heating, and water has been severely affected,” Doughten warned.

The conflict has also taken a heavy toll on humanitarian workers. “This year, the number of humanitarian aid workers killed in Ukraine has almost tripled – from four in 2022 and five in 2023, to 11 so far in 2024,” she said.
Doughten expressed particular concern for 1.5 million civilians in Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia. “We remain unable to reach these people at any adequate scale,” she said.

Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said, “The Ukrainian leadership, past its expiration date, does not want to resolve the situation,” adding that Kyiv had rejected a proposed Christmas ceasefire and prisoner exchange.

Nebenzya also criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for “kowtowing” to the U.S. following its recent elections, saying, “Zelensky and his team have been traveling across the U.S. and its satellites with their hands outstretched.”

Ukraine’s Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya condemned Russian strikes on civilian infrastructure, saying, “Last Friday’s strike was the twelfth carried out by Russia against our energy infrastructure in 2024 alone. For these strikes, Russia used about 1,100 missiles, both cruise and ballistic ones.”

Kyslytsya also highlighted recent attacks in Zaporizhzhia, where a guided aerial bomb killed eleven people, including two children. “Eight victims burned to death in their cars following the explosion,” he said, naming two of the children as 14-year-old Tanya and 11-year-old Katya.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield called on Russia to end the war, which she said has caused immense suffering on both sides. “Putin can at any time end the conflict that has not only killed Ukrainians, but hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers,” she said. “It goes without saying Russia must withdraw its forces from the sovereign territory of Ukraine, and Russia must pay for the damage it has caused.”