UN Security Council Meets Over Russian Attacks On Ukraine After May 19 Emergency Call

Russia’s attacks on Ukraine prompted the UN Security Council to convene an emergency meeting on May 19, according to a statement from Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Andrii Melnyk.

“As soon as the fragile truce declared for 3 days between Russia and Ukraine ended last Tuesday, the warring countries witnessed a military escalation described as the most dangerous since the war began in 2022, including wide-scale bombardments that left dozens dead as well as destruction and damage”

Al-Jazeera Net

Melnyk said that from May 4 to May 11, russian armed forces launched approximately 600 attack drones and 16 ballistic missiles at cities and towns across Ukraine, and that across the country more than 40 civilians were killed and over 200 were wounded.

Al-Jazeera Net

He added that on May 13 the russian federation launched more than 800 drones, resulting in the deaths of at least eight civilians and the wounding of dozens more, including children.

The Ukrainian News agency also said emergency repair work was still underway at the site of the russian strike on a building in the Darnytskyi District, which claimed the lives of 24 people.

In Kyiv, SANA said Russia launched one of its deadliest attacks on the capital in recent months overnight, killing at least 24 people including three children and injuring 47 others, as emergency crews continued searching through the rubble of a collapsed residential building in Kyiv’s southeastern Darnytskyi district.

SANA quoted Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying a Russian missile had “wiped out an entire residential building from the first to the ninth floor.”

La Croix

The Guardian reported that Friedrich Merz said Russia was “banking on escalation rather than negotiation” after Kyiv faced almost continuous heavy attacks, and it also said Zelenskyy stated Russia had launched 1,567 drones since the start of Wednesday.

The Guardian further quoted Merz saying “Russia, for its part, is continuing the war,” as it described Kyiv and its partners as ready for negotiations aimed at a just peace.

The Guardian said more than 1,500 rescue workers were deployed across Ukraine to deal with the aftermath, including nearly 600 in Kyiv, and it reported that Zelenskiy said 180 facilities had been damaged including more than 50 residential buildings.

“- Russia’s heavy bombardment of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, showed Moscow was “banking on escalation rather than negotiation”, Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, said on Thursday”

The Guardian

It also said the UN nuclear watchdog warned of “intensified” military activities near several Ukraine nuclear sites, naming the Khmelnitsky, Rivne and South Ukraine operational nuclear plants and the Chornobyl disaster site.

In parallel, La Croix reported that Zelensky said on Friday that Ukraine was entitled to strike oil and military sites in Russia in retaliation for the deadly attack in Kyiv that left at least 24 dead.

La Croix also reported that Russia and Ukraine exchanged 205 prisoners of war from each side, and it said Russian troops were on the territory of the Republic of Belarus where they were receiving psychological and medical assistance.