Meetings Coverage
Security Council
10110th Meeting (PM)
SC/16302
24 February 2026
As the Russian Federation’s war on Ukraine enters its fifth year, the Security Council today heard that ongoing diplomatic efforts must first yield an immediate ceasefire, and then a lasting peace, to finally end the widespread suffering wrought by prolonged conflict.
The Council is meeting in the wake of the General Assembly’s Emergency Special Session on the same topic, after months of intensified Russian Federation attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure amidst freezing temperatures. While ongoing diplomatic efforts seek to end the war, 2025 was a particularly deadly year for civilians despite the Council’s adoption of resolution 2774 (2025) one year ago on the third anniversary of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine. Today marks the fourth.
“The war remains a stain on our collective conscience,” said Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, speaking for the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Spotlighting the cascading consequences of the Russian Federation’s invasion — a “blatant violation of international law” — she underscored that the human toll has been catastrophic. “Last year was the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians since 2022,” she said. And since the start of the war, more than 15,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, more than 41,000 have been injured, millions have been forced to flee their homes and millions more require life-saving assistance.
Adding that “the plight of Ukrainian children is particularly dire”, she reported that more than 3,200 have been killed or injured and that “a whole generation has lost years of education”. And this winter, the Russian Federation’s intensified strikes against Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure have turned access to basic services into “a matter of life and death”, she said. Also noting that civilians in the Russian Federation are increasingly affected by reported Ukrainian strikes, she urged both sides to implement an “immediate moratorium” on attacking civilian populations and infrastructure.
She went on to recall the Council’s adoption of resolution 2774 (2025) one year ago, which implored a “swift end to the conflict”. While commending ongoing diplomatic efforts by the United States and others towards this end, she underlined the need for “concrete” measures to de-escalate the fighting and create space for such efforts to succeed. “The parameters of peace in Ukraine are not a mystery,” she said — it must accord with international law and uphold the country’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
Calling for an immediate, full and unconditional ceasefire, she stressed: “Enough with the death, enough with the destruction, enough with the broken lives and shattered futures.”
‘Russia Shows No Interest in Peace’
Calling for clear-eyed negotiations, France’s representative said his country did everything it could to prevent the war — and will do everything it can to end it. Supporting ongoing peace efforts, he underlined the need to “broadcast the voice of Europe”, stressing that peace requires sincere political will — and “we have that”. However, “Russia shows no interest in peace”, stressed Denmark’s representative; rather, Moscow’s actions are “desperate and deeply cynical”.
“Yes, this has been ongoing for four years — yes, I am not happy about the fact that people are dying — but, if need be, this will continue for as long as necessary,” said the delegate of the Russian Federation. Stating that European countries neither seek a lasting solution to the Ukraine crisis nor care about the future of the Ukrainian people, he said that statements made during the recent Munich Security Conference did not mention peace in Ukraine.
Recalling that Moscow has, from the outset, preferred “diplomatic methods for the achievement of the goals of the special military operation”, he said it has participated in negotiations “conscientiously and in good faith”. However, any agreement must be comprehensive, address root causes and “result in a real end to this conflict, rather than an ephemeral ceasefire”, he stressed.
Calls for Sustained Pressure on Russian Federation
The root cause of the past 1,461 days of illegal war is well-known, stressed Baiba Braže, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Latvia — “Russia’s imperial and colonial aspirations”. Moscow refuses to accept that empires are dead and continues to sabotage ongoing peace efforts. “The good news is that Russia’s aggression is failing,” she said, noting that it lost more than 400,000 troops in 2025 alone while capturing less than 1 per cent of Ukrainian territory. Nevertheless, she said that, while Ukraine will remain free and sovereign, “it’s time to bring this war to an end”.
“This means keeping up the pressure on Russia, and choking off their war machine,” stressed Stephen Doughty, Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom, Council President for February. To this end, London is announcing the “largest package of measures since 2022”. Calling — “again” — on the Russian Federation to comply with international law, he added that his country and its partners are pressing Moscow to “meaningfully” engage in the peace process.
Yet, Mariana Betsa, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said that the Kremlin continues to show “no readiness in stopping this aggression, using the negotiation process as a cover to continue this war”. Three rounds of trilateral meetings among her country, the Russian Federation and the United States have been held to date — the latest on 17 and 18 February in Geneva — but there has been “no agreement on the most sensitive political matters”, she noted.
“Ukraine is not an obstacle to peace — we want peace more than anyone else — but, of course, it should be a just peace,” she said. While Kyiv is willing to make difficult compromises, Moscow’s unchanged position is that Ukraine must withdraw from its sovereign territory. Underscoring the fundamentality of sovereignty and territorial integrity, she stressed that this is a “red line” for her country — “and, I’m more than sure, for every country present in this hall”.
For her part, the representative of the United States reported: “We are closer to a deal right now than at any point since the war began, but we have obviously not reached it.” One reason that the conflict continues is the support Moscow continues to receive from third countries, she said, stating: “China remains the decisive enabler of Russia’s war industrial machine.” Rejecting that statement, China’s representative stressed that his country neither created nor is party to the conflict and also does not supply lethal weapons.
Delegates Urge Diplomacy, Civilian Protection
Arnold Kammel, Secretary-General in Austria’s Federal Ministry of Defence, also said that his country does not provide weapons; rather, it provides humanitarian support. He also said that Austria is willing to host future negotiations. Michael Damianos, Minister for Energy, Commerce and Industry of Cyprus, joined those expressing support for ongoing diplomacy — as did Somalia’s representative — while the representative of Bahrain noted that such efforts resulted in the exchange of prisoners between the conflicting parties.
The representatives of Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for their part, spotlighted the war’s global consequences and underlined the need to end the conflict. Several delegates, including those of Panama and Colombia, pointed to the importance of protecting civilians, as those of Greece and Spain stressed that targeting civilian populations and infrastructure violates international law. In every conflict, said Liberia’s representative, civilians are the “unwilling front lines”.
Some of the wider UN membership also took the floor today, many to point to Moscow’s intransigence at the negotiating table. Germany’s representative stressed that the Russian Federation must finally agree to an unconditional ceasefire and seriously engage in negotiations. Similarly, the representative of the European Union, in its capacity as observer, stated: “To have peace, Russia must be made to realize that its strategy of pretending to negotiate — while extending its aggression — will no longer be tolerated.”
Speakers Reject Borders Redrawn by Force, Warn of Russian Federation’s Imperial Ambitions
The international community must also never tolerate “attempts to redraw internationally recognized borders by force”, said Lasha Darsalia, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Georgia, recalling that his country “knows first hand the consequences of occupation”. Meanwhile, Sweden’s representative — also speaking for Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway — said that these countries “will ensure that aggressors are held responsible and that Russia will pay compensation for the damage caused by its war”.
Moscow seeks to reverse the collapse of the Soviet Union — “and here we will find the real root causes of this conflict” — said Estonia’s representative. “This is a war of choice, driven by calculated imperial ambition,” added Lithuania’s representative, who also detailed Moscow’s “broader strategy to destabilize our region” through escalating hybrid threats against his own country and others. “We feel it in Poland,” said that country’s representative, while pledging that these actions will not undermine Warsaw’s resolve to help Ukraine.
“Once, a wall stood in Europe,” recalled Petr Macinka, Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic — one that separated freedom from oppression, truth from propaganda and the future from the past. “That wall no longer stands in Berlin,” he said — “it stands in Ukraine”. Recalling the words spoken by the United States President in 1987, he urged that a similar message be sent to the Russian Federation President now: “Mr. Putin, break down this war.”
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