UN rights chief urges Russia to halt Ukraine attacks

This handout photograph taken and released by Ukrainian Emergency Service on December 29, 2023, shows firefighters working in a burning building at a site following an attack in Dnipro, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. – Russia launched drone and missile strikes across Ukraine on December 29, 2023, killing at least 18 people and wounding over a hundred in one of the most massive air attacks of the war. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE / AFP) /

UN human rights chief Volker Turk condemned the deadly wave of Russian strikes across Ukraine on Friday and urged Moscow to cease the attacks “immediately”.

Russia launched drone and missile strikes, killing more than 18 people and wounding more than a hundred in one of the biggest air attacks of the war.

“I am shocked by yet another full-scale set of coordinated missile and drone attacks by the Russian Federation across Ukraine during the night,” Turk said in a statement.

The attacks hit a wide range of civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings, a maternity hospital, schools, kindergartens, parks, a metro station, and a shopping mall, as well as energy infrastructure, he noted.

The barrage also cut electricity in several regions, following damage to transmission lines, and rescue teams were still searching for people trapped under the rubble of residential buildings, he added.

“International humanitarian law explicitly prohibits attacks deliberately targeting civilian objects, as well as indiscriminate attacks, under any circumstances,” said Turk.

“I call again on the Russian Federation to cease its attacks on Ukraine immediately, and to strictly respect all the rules of international law relating to the conduct of hostilities.”