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STORY: UN / UKRAINE
TRT: 05:06
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / RUSSIAN / NATS
DATELINE: 26 MARCH 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
26 MARCH 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“The situation for civilians has continued to worsen since we last briefed the Council. This, and the severe global funding cuts for humanitarian operations, including for Ukraine, is further reducing our capacity to provide life-saving aid.”
4. Wide shot, Security Council
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“Since 1 March, not a day has passed without an attack harming civilians. We are particularly appalled by the strikes countrywide on 7 March that killed 21 civilians and injured many more, making it one of the deadliest days this year.”
6. Wide shot, Security Council
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“We welcome the announcements of an energy infrastructure ceasefire, as well as negotiations to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea. However, as the cold weather persists, the impact of past attacks on energy infrastructure continue to affect civilians’ access to electricity, gas, heating and water, threatening the lives and well-being of the most vulnerable, including children, the elderly and people with disabilities.”
8. Wide shot, Security Council
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“Funding cuts are expected to further impact an estimated 640,000 women and girls in Ukraine, as vital gender-based violence services, psychosocial support and safe spaces will no longer be continued, according to the UN Population Fund.”
10. Wide shot, Security Council
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“We are extremely concerned about the estimated 1.5 million civilians requiring assistance in parts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions under occupation by the Russian Federation. We remain unable to reach these people at any adequate scale.”
12. Wide shot, Security Council
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dorothy Shea, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, United States:
“Russian forces have destroyed homes, schools and medical facilities, and forcibly transferred thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia. As President Trump discussed with President Zelensky last week, the war must end. We must all continue to agree on this. The United States commends Ukraine and the Russian Federation for taking the first steps towards a cease fire, including participating in technical level talks this week. We welcome the proposed partial ceasefires on strikes against energy infrastructure and in the Black Sea agreed to in principle by the leaders of both sides, if fully implemented, these agreements will be an important first step on the path to peace.”
14.Wide shot, Security Council
15. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Dmitry Polyanskiy, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Russian Federation:
“Yesterday, following technical level talks in El Riyadh, Russia and the US agreed to begin implementing the Black Sea initiative. The initiative speaks to safety navigation in the Black Sea, non-use of force and avoiding the use of commercial vessels for military purposes. As we all recall, it is precisely owing to such actions committed by the Kyiv regime that the previous similar attempt fell through. To avoid new incidents of this kind, we do intend to have proper controls imposed, i.e., the inspection of such vessels. Moreover, the US agreed to facilitate the resumption of access of Russian agricultural and fertilize products to world markets, lowering the cost of insuring such maritime trade and broadening access to ports and payment systems for such transactions. It's important to understand that, as per the agreement, the initiative will be resumed only after a series of measures are adopted. These are aimed at lifting sanctions on the Russian State Agricultural bank and other Russian financial organizations involved in international food and fertilizer trading, including connecting these banks to the SWIFT system.”
16. Wide shot, Security Council
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Khrystyna Hayovyshyn, Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ukraine:
“Ukraine has made its three principled positions clear. First, we will not recognize any temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as Russian. Second, we will not agree to any foreign dictate regarding the structure, number and other characteristics of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. Third, we will not accept any restrictions on Ukraine's sovereignty our domestic and foreign policies, including on the choice of alliances that we would like to join.”
18. Wide shot, end of the 9886th Security Council’s meeting
“Not a day has passed without an attack harming civilians,” a UN top humanitarian official said, addressing a Security Council meeting on the situation in Ukraine.
The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is rapidly deteriorating, Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs told the Security Council today (Mar 26), citing relentless civilian casualties and shrinking global support. “The situation for civilians has continued to worsen since we last briefed the Council. This, and the severe global funding cuts for humanitarian operations, including for Ukraine, is further reducing our capacity to provide life-saving aid,” Msuya said.
Since the beginning of March, Ukraine has endured daily attacks, according to Msuya. “Not a day has passed without an attack harming civilians,” she said, highlighting the March 7 strikes that killed 21 people as “one of the deadliest days this year.”
Despite recent announcements of partial ceasefires, Msuya stressed that the humanitarian impact remains severe. “We welcome the announcements of an energy infrastructure ceasefire, as well as negotiations to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea,” she said. “However, as the cold weather persists, the impact of past attacks on energy infrastructure continue to affect civilians’ access to electricity, gas, heating and water, threatening the lives and well-being of the most vulnerable.”
UN estimates indicate that 640,000 women and girls may lose access to critical gender-based violence services due to funding cuts. “Psychosocial support and safe spaces will no longer be continued, according to the UN Population Fund,” Msuya warned.
She also raised alarm over 1.5 million civilians in Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia, where humanitarian access remains severely restricted. “We remain unable to reach these people at any adequate scale,” she said.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador Dorothy Shea reiterated American support for Ukraine while welcoming progress toward a ceasefire. “Russian forces have destroyed homes, schools and medical facilities, and forcibly transferred thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia,” she said. “We welcome the proposed partial ceasefires on strikes against energy infrastructure and in the Black Sea agreed to in principle by the leaders of both sides, if fully implemented, these agreements will be an important first step on the path to peace.”
Russia’s representative Dmitry Polyanskiy confirmed that Moscow and Washington had agreed on steps to resume the Black Sea initiative, focusing on safe navigation and non-militarization of commercial vessels. He emphasized that the deal is contingent on lifting certain Western sanctions. “These are aimed at lifting sanctions on the Russian State Agricultural bank and other Russian financial organizations,” including connecting these banks to the SWIFT system, Polyanskiy said.
Ukraine’s Deputy Representative Khrystyna Hayovyshyn reaffirmed Kyiv’s position. First, we will not recognize any temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as Russian. Second, we will not agree to any foreign dictate regarding the structure, number and other characteristics of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. Third, we will not accept any restrictions on Ukraine's sovereignty our domestic and foreign policies, including on the choice of alliances that we would like to join.”
