Miss Kayoko Gotoh, delivering a United Nations briefing, said verified civilian casualties in Ukraine have risen sharply this year and that attacks on energy and transport infrastructure have left hundreds of thousands without power and essential services.

Gotoh told the assembly that civilian casualties between January and November 2025 were 24% higher than the same period in 2024 and cited verified figures from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): 14,775 Ukrainian civilians killed since February 2022, including 755 children, and 39,322 injured, including 2,416 children. She added that those figures represent verified cases and that actual totals are likely higher.

The delegate described multiple large‑scale missile and drone strikes that targeted energy and transport infrastructure in several regions, saying one May wave of attacks injured dozens, cut power for hundreds of thousands and left people exposed to freezing temperatures. Gotoh said a 12‑year‑old boy was killed in a drone attack in Dnipropetrovsk region, and that a 29 November attack reportedly killed six people and injured others in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk.

Gotoh warned that systematic attacks on civilian infrastructure in winter threaten heating, water and public transport, and said elevator outages have left elderly people and persons with disabilities unable to leave high‑rise buildings. She also reported that more than 340 educational facilities were damaged or destroyed this year, disrupting children’s right to education, and that access to shops, pharmacies and medical personnel has collapsed in some frontline localities.

The briefing noted that local authorities on both sides of the border report civilian harm and infrastructure damage, saying long‑distance strikes have also been reported to damage civilian sites in the Russian Federation. Gotoh said limited access constrains independent verification of some reports.

On maritime incidents, Gotoh cited recent reports of attacks on tankers and port infrastructure in the Black Sea, including a May incident in which Bulgarian authorities evacuated a tanker crew near the port named in the briefing, and reports that two Russian tankers were hit on 29 November by naval drones in Turkish economic waters. She said the incidents, while not always producing casualties, heighten the risk of wider escalation.

Gotoh raised specific concern about nuclear safety, saying the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has worked to restore power lines at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, where power interruptions continue and a May attack affected the site. She said the IAEA’s assessment of the new safe confinement at Chernobyl found the structure had lost certain primary safety functions, "including the confinement capability," but that no permanent damage was found to load‑bearing structures or monitoring systems.

The delegate reiterated that attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international law and "must stop," and welcomed recent prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and the Russian Federation while urging their continuation and the scaled return of Ukrainian children and other detainees without delay.

Gotoh said she is hopeful continued diplomatic efforts, including those led by the United States, can help bring the conflict to a negotiated end and quoted the secretary‑general’s call for a "full immediate and unconditional ceasefire." She closed by saying the United Nations stands ready to support meaningful efforts to de‑escalate the conflict. The chair thanked Miss Kayoko Gotoh and gave the floor to Miss Joyce Muswea for the next briefing.