Russian Recruits Survive Only 10 Days to 3 Weeks Amid Catastrophic Battlefield Losses, Ukraine Tells UN
Ukraine told the UN Security Council that Russia is suffering catastrophic battlefield losses, with recruits surviving only 10 days to 3 weeks, while Moscow continues to make only limited advances.
Kyiv Post
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Volodymyr Pavlichenko, Deputy Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, told the Security Council on Thursday that Russia is intensifying its campaign of terror against civilians, abusing its permanent seat on the council, and spreading “Orwellian” propaganda to justify war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Kyiv’s representative thanked UN officials Rosemary DiCarlo and Indrika Ratwatte for presenting evidence of new Russian war crimes against Ukrainian civilians.
Citing George Orwell’s 1984, he recalled the slogans of a totalitarian state that distorted reality to control society and justify foreign conflicts: “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.”
According to Ukraine, Russia’s representative had demonstrated “this exact Orwellian inversion of reality in action.”
Moscow, the Ukrainian delegation argued, wants the Security Council to believe that deliberate missile and drone strikes on residential buildings are a legitimate method of warfare, that the occupation of Ukrainian cities destroyed by Russian forces amounts to “liberation,” and that its full-scale invasion is somehow aimed at “peace and security.”
“Nobody would ever fall for aggressor lies here,” Ukraine’s diplomat told the council.
Kyiv stressed that Russia launched its unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine more than 12 years ago and continues to abuse its seat on the Security Council.
Washington told the UN Security Council that Russia must make a deal, stop the killing and end the war.
“We don’t have to forget that this presence here is illegal and it should be removed from this council entirely,” he stated.
July continues “tragic and barbaric” trend
Ukraine requested the emergency meeting because it is witnessing “yet another intensification of Russian terror against Ukrainian civilians,” the delegation noted.
May and June were among the deadliest months for Ukrainians in the past four years, Ukraine’s representative said, citing UN reporting. July, he warned, is continuing the same “tragic and barbaric trend.”
Every day, Russian missiles, bombs and drones target residential buildings and civilian infrastructure across Ukraine, with Kyiv remaining a primary target.
On the night of July 2, Russia launched 74 missiles and 496 drones against Ukraine, killing 31 people and injuring more than 100 others, including four children.
On the night of July 6, Moscow carried out another massive attack against Kyiv and Kyiv region, launching 68 missiles and 351 attack drones.
That strike killed 28 people. Among the victims, as noted by the UN, was a 12-year-old boy whose body, along with that of his mother, was recovered from the rubble of a residential apartment building in Kyiv. More than 130 people were injured, including 9 children.
Civilian toll rises across Ukraine
While Kyiv and its surrounding region have suffered heavily, Ukraine warned that Russian attacks continue to threaten cities across the country, including Kharkiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Sumy and Kramatorsk.
The death toll among Ukrainian civilians has continued to rise since the start of July. According to Kyiv, at least six people were killed and 72 injured on July 1; 16 people were killed and 62 injured on July 3; and at least four people were killed and 56 injured on July 4.
“This is not just mere statistics, but a tragedy for all my compatriots,” the Ukrainian diplomat said.
Kyiv described the Kremlin’s strategy as one of mass terror designed to intimidate Ukrainians and force them to surrender.
Russia deliberately targets residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, while also creating unbearable living conditions in temporarily occupied territories, Pavlichenko stressed.
Despite repeated calls by OCHA and the Red Cross, Moscow continues to push thousands of Ukrainians in occupied parts of Kherson region to the brink of survival by severely restricting access to food, water and other basic necessities.
The Russian-occupied town of Oleshky has become one of the symbols of the humanitarian crisis caused by occupation, Kyiv told the council.
Ukraine said Russia is unable to ensure even basic standards of safety and well-being for Ukrainians living under occupation, while also refusing to allow civilians to leave temporarily occupied territories.
Instead, Moscow has again resorted to its usual tactic of shifting responsibility, blaming the victim, falsifying facts and spreading propaganda.
All these actions, Ukraine’s representative stated, amount to “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
“Ukraine won’t be coerced into accepting a sham peace”
Kyiv told the council that Russia’s strategy of terror has completely failed, just as Moscow’s original plan to capture Kyiv in three days failed.
“Ukraine won’t be coerced into accepting a sham peace,” the representative stated.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Russian military has set no fewer than 15 deadlines to seize the entirety of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to Kyiv. Every one of those deadlines has passed without success.
Nor, Ukraine argued, will Moscow achieve those objectives this year or next year.
Russia’s false claims regarding the capture of Kostyantynivka are another example of its systematic disinformation campaign, the Ukrainian delegation said.
“The reality on the ground tells a very different story. Russia is not winning,” Pavlichenko told the council.
Russia’s losses “difficult to sustain”
According to Kyiv, Russia’s monthly battlefield losses have reached levels that are increasingly difficult to sustain.
Once a Russian soldier is signed up to fight, Pavlichenko said, he can expect to live only 10 days to 3 weeks from arrival at a training center to death on the battlefield.
In May alone, Russia lost more than 30,000 soldiers, followed by approximately 28,000 in June, the Ukrainian delegation told the council.
Despite those losses, Moscow has achieved only limited and incremental advances along the front line.
Ukraine also emphasized that its own strike capabilities have evolved.
Kyiv has effectively implemented medium- and deep-strike capabilities against Russia’s war machine, targeting military bases, war-supporting industry, oil refineries, logistics hubs and other military targets.
Ukraine described these operations as an exercise of its inherent right to self-defense and a lawful effort to attack the aggressor’s military potential in full compliance with international law.
The aim, Kyiv noted, is to deprive Russia of the weapons and resources fueling its war of aggression.
Ukraine calls for weapons, sanctions and accountability
Russia started the war in 2014, and the Kremlin bears full responsibility for all consequences of that decision, Ukraine’s representative stated.
Unlike Putin, Ukraine is not fighting because of “unrealized imperial ambitions or geopolitical fantasies,” but to defend its land, people and future.
Kyiv expressed gratitude to partners for support provided in line with Article 51 of the UN Charter, as well as to NATO members for assistance announced at the Ankara summit.
Ukraine has repeatedly confirmed its readiness for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks, the representative noted. On June 4, President Volodymyr Zelensky sent an open letter to Putin once again offering to end the war.
Ukraine continues talks with the US and other allies on the most effective way to stop Russia’s aggression.
“But Russia has no desire to do it,” the representative warned. “Moscow continues to reject every genuine peace initiative.”
Even inside the Security Council chamber, Kyiv added, Russia was not looking for a way to stop the war, but instead justifying killings and spreading propaganda.
“You can’t escape from the responsibility for your crimes,” Pavlichenko said.
Kyiv argued that Russia’s aggression can only be stopped through strength and practical action.
First, Ukraine called for stronger support for its defense capabilities, stressing that this is “not escalation,” but the only strategy to restore peace and save lives.
Ukraine is the only country in the world facing massive ballistic attacks almost every day, the representative said. Every delay in delivering interceptors such as PAC-3 and PAC-2 will cost more Ukrainian civilian lives.
Second, Kyiv urged stronger pressure on Russia’s military potential, including tougher sanctions to choke the sources of Moscow’s war-making capacity.
Ukraine called for Russia’s military-industrial complex to be stopped, its access to critical technologies and components blocked, and new constraints imposed on Moscow’s financial, banking, trade and energy sectors, particularly against the shadow fleet.
The Russian economy, Kyiv argued, is showing clear signs of structural exhaustion, making this the right moment to tighten pressure.
Third, Ukraine stressed accountability as both a moral obligation and a deterrent against future aggression.
Kyiv welcomed the Dutch government’s recent decision to host a special tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine in The Hague.
Ukraine also demanded the immediate return of unlawfully deported Ukrainian children, illegally detained civilians and prisoners of war.
All those responsible for war crimes must be brought to justice, the representative said.
“The choice is Moscow’s”
As a fourth point, Ukraine called for restoring the UN’s effectiveness in carrying out its core functions.
The paralysis of the Security Council over Russia’s crimes must be stopped by the international community that still respects the rules-based international order, Kyiv stated.
Ukraine again appealed to Security Council members to place on the table, without further delay, a draft resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.
Such a step would send a clear signal in support of restoring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
“There is only one path forward for Russia to end this war of aggression against Ukraine – now,” Ukraine’s representative told the council.
That path requires Moscow to recognize that the war is a “historic catastrophe.”
“If they refuse to stop it, the costs and consequences for Russia will continue to rise,” the representative warned. “The choice is Moscow’s. But the responsibility for stopping them is ours.”
