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UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk at Human Rights Council on Ukraine: “This war needs to end”
“This year has seen intense attacks along the frontline, and massive airstrikes, largely in populated areas. In some towns in frontline communities, nearly all the housing has been damaged or destroyed,” Türk told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“Russian forces launched the largest air attack of the war on the night of 6 September, sending a total of 823 munitions, including 810 long-range drones and 13 powerful missiles, over Ukraine,” he said.
“Harm to Ukrainian civilians has risen sharply, with total casualties in the first eight months of the year increasing by 40 percent compared to 2024. In July we documented the highest number of civilian casualties in a month in more than three years,” Türk said.
“Since the start of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation, we have documented more than 50,000 Ukrainian civilians killed and injured, including more than three thousand children.”
Continued attacks on critical infrastructure, including power stations, gas facilities, bridges, and railways, disrupt daily life and essential services. Vulnerable groups, including children, older people and those with disabilities, are hardest hit by attacks on civilian infrastructure. The onset of winter will only make their living conditions even worse.
The Russian Federation has reported civilian casualties at much lower levels, resulting from alleged attacks by Ukrainian forces, but the UN Human Rights Office has not been able to verify these figures.
Meanwhile, the Russian Federation has detained large numbers of both Ukrainian civilians and military personnel.
“The report we issued last week lays bare the violations of international law inflicted on civilian detainees. In many cases, people living in occupied territory have been arbitrarily seized from the street and held for weeks, months, or even years. In a significant number of cases, these detentions may amount to enforced disappearances,” Türk said.
“My Office has recorded 90 extrajudicial executions of Ukrainian civilians detained by the Russian authorities. We have documented 38 deaths in custody, resulting from torture, lack of medical care or poor conditions. We also documented patterns of widespread, systematic torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, against Ukrainian civilian detainees. My staff had already recorded these same violations against Ukrainian prisoners of war,” the High Commissioner said
The report states that amendments to the laws of the Russian Federation have entrenched impunity for military personnel, enabling extrajudicial executions, torture, and ill-treatment to go unpunished.
The report also recorded cases of the Ukrainian authorities torturing and mistreating detainees connected to the conflict, including cases of sexual violence. Many of these were in 2022. Ukrainian authorities have taken steps to strengthen safeguards and improve detention conditions, but there is limited accountability, the High Commissioner noted.
“The Russian authorities continue to perpetrate widespread and systematic violations of human rights against Ukrainian civilians in the territory they occupy in the south and east of the country,” he said.
“Residents face increasing pressure to obtain Russian citizenship to access basic services, or risk intimidation, deportation, and the confiscation of their property,” the High Commissioner said.
The Russian occupying authorities have imposed their own curriculum on schools and introduced patriotic and military education. Surveillance and censorship have intensified, including on messaging apps and VPNs, putting civilians and human rights defenders at even greater risk. These practices reflect a deliberate effort to suppress dissent and Ukrainian identity.
The UN Human Rights Office, including the monitoring team in Ukraine, is following these developments closely, gathering evidence, and documenting alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
For the report, UN Human Rights staff conducted over 400 interviews in 17 places of detention, across all regions controlled by Ukraine. For cases from territory currently occupied by the Russian Federation, UN Human Rights staff conducted 216 interviews with released detainees.
“I call on the Russian Federation to halt all extrajudicial executions, torture, mistreatment and sexual violence against civilian detainees and prisoners of war, and to end all arbitrary and unlawful detention practices,” Türk said.
The High Commissioner also urged the Russian Federation to respect international law in territory under its control; to ensure effective oversight of all places of detention; and to grant full access for independent monitors to locations where Ukrainian civilian detainees are held.
He urged Ukraine to respect its obligations under international law in its treatment of detainees, by safeguarding them from torture, ill-treatment and sexual violence.
He called all parties to conduct prompt, independent, and effective investigations of all allegations of violations, and to ensure accountability for perpetrators.
“This war needs to end. The human toll on civilians, and on soldiers and their families, is staggering and heartbreaking,” Türk said.
“Recent reports that Russian military drones have been seen in countries neighboring Ukraine remind us of the dangers this war poses across the region and beyond.
Every day, as the violence continues, the risks of escalation and expansion grow,” he added.
All negotiations and peace initiatives need to prioritize the protection of civilians and uphold the dignity and rights of all, Türk said.
ENDS
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STORY: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk at Human Rights Council on Ukraine: “This war needs to end”
TRT: 03:42
SOURCE: OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: English/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 03 October 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Various exterior shots: Palais des Nations
- Interior shots: Assembly Hall
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “This year has seen intense attacks along the frontline, and massive airstrikes, largely in populated areas. In some towns in frontline communities, nearly all the housing has been damaged or destroyed.”
- Cutaways: Assembly hall
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Russian forces launched the largest air attack of the war on the night of 6 September, sending a total of 823 munitions, including 810 long-range drones and 13 powerful missiles, over Ukraine.”
- Cutaways: Assembly hall
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Harm to Ukrainian civilians has risen sharply, with total casualties in the first eight months of the year increasing by 40 percent compared to 2024. In July we documented the highest number of civilian casualties in a month in more than three years.”
- Cutaways: Assembly hall
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Since the start of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation, we have documented more than 50,000 Ukrainian civilians killed and injured, including more than three thousand children.”
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “The report we issued last week lays bare the violations of international law inflicted on civilian detainees. In many cases, people living in occupied territory have been arbitrarily seized from the street and held for weeks, months, or even years. In a significant number of cases, these detentions may amount to enforced disappearances.”
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “My Office has recorded 90 extrajudicial executions of Ukrainian civilians detained by the Russian authorities. We have documented 38 deaths in custody, resulting from torture, lack of medical care or poor conditions. We also documented patterns of widespread, systematic torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, against Ukrainian civilian detainees. My staff had already recorded these same violations against Ukrainian prisoners of war.”
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “The Russian authorities continue to perpetrate widespread and systematic violations of human rights against Ukrainian civilians in the territory they occupy in the south and east of the country.”
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Residents face increasing pressure to obtain Russian citizenship to access basic services, or risk intimidation, deportation, and the confiscation of their property.”
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “I call on the Russian Federation to halt all extrajudicial executions, torture, mistreatment and sexual violence against civilian detainees and prisoners of war, and to end all arbitrary and unlawful detention practices.”
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “This war needs to end. The human toll on civilians, and on soldiers and their families, is staggering and heartbreaking.”
- SOUNDBITE (English) — Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: “Recent reports that Russian military drones have been seen in countries neighboring Ukraine remind us of the dangers this war poses across the region and beyond. Every day, as the violence continues, the risks of escalation and expansion grow.”
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
ends