“Like millions of people in Ukraine, I spent hours this morning in a bomb shelter due to the ongoing wave of attacks on Ukraine by Russian forces,” Matthias Schmale said in a statement issued on Monday.
According to him, civilians have been killed and injured and infrastructure has been badly damaged.
Young lives disrupted
Separately, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine wrote on the social media platform X that boys and girls “woke up today to the sounds of air raid sirens and explosions”.
The agency also shared photos of children and families sheltering in metro stations in the capital, Kiev.
Even wars have rules
According to media reports, the attacks came shortly after Ukraine’s recent invasion of Russia’s Kursk region, marking the most violent Russian attacks in weeks.
The attacks, which primarily targeted critical energy infrastructure, killed at least five people and knocked out power and water supplies.
Earlier this year, the UN and partners reported that Russia had stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid, prompting the UN human rights office, OHCHRintake 50 incidents in April alone.
Mr Schmale concluded his statement by saying it was “unacceptable” that Ukrainian citizens had to take refuge in metro stations and other shelters instead of getting on with their lives.
“Even in war there are rules,” he said.International humanitarian law must be respected. Civilians must be protected.“
Call for urgent action
The representative of the UN Agency for Reproductive and Sexual Health, UN-FPAin Ukraine also regretted the airstrike in a message on X.
Massimo Diana said the attacks “tragically claimed lives” in the city of Lutsk and the Zhytomyr region.
“We condemn these deadly attacks on critical infrastructure and call for urgent action to protect civilians,” he said.
