As War Turns Five, UN Warns Against ‘New Normal’
Geneva/New York: Four years to the day since Russian forces launched their full-scale invasion of Ukraine, senior United Nations officials warned that the conflict has not only devastated a country but also fractured the security assumptions of an entire continent — and must not be allowed to become routine.
Addressing reporters in Geneva, Annalena Baerbock, President of the United Nations General Assembly, said the events of 24 February 2022 had “shattered the peaceful aspirations of an entire continent.” For many Europeans, she said, the invasion by Russia marked the end of an era. “Four years ago, people in Europe woke up in another world because generations like mine have always had the privilege to live a life in peace,” she said.
Recalling a visit to Kharkiv, just 40 kilometres from the Russian border, Baerbock described a teenage girl explaining the brutal calculus of survival under rocket fire. “They told me count till 40 and if you’re still alive you obviously made it,” the girl had said, underscoring how little time civilians often have to reach bomb shelters.
Insisting that “war must never be the new normal,” the Assembly President renewed her call for an “immediate, full and unconditional cease-fire.” Any peace agreement, she stressed, must be grounded in the UN Charter, international law and resolutions adopted by the Assembly, including respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence.
Her remarks came ahead of an emergency special session of the General Assembly in New York, where Member States were expected to consider a draft resolution demanding a ceasefire and a just and lasting peace in line with international law. The draft also calls for confidence-building measures, including the full exchange of prisoners of war, the release of unlawfully detained persons and the return of civilians forcibly transferred or deported, including children.
From Kyiv, the UN’s Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Matthias Schmale, said that 2025 had been the deadliest year for civilians since the full-scale invasion began in 2022. At least 2,500 civilians were killed and more than 12,000 injured last year — a 30 per cent increase compared to 2024.
He pointed to systematic attacks on energy infrastructure that have disrupted electricity, heating and water supplies across the country. Entire towns have been left without power and water for weeks. In the capital alone, more than 3,000 high-rise buildings are now uninhabitable for the remainder of winter, placing older persons, people with limited mobility and families with children at heightened risk. “This kind of weaponisation of energy must stop,” Schmale said.
The war’s displacement crisis remains vast. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 5.9 million Ukrainian refugees remain outside the country, including 5.7 million hosted across Europe. Philippe Leclerc, the agency’s Regional Director for Europe and Refugee Coordinator for Ukraine, said evacuations from frontline areas have grown sharply in the past six months amid intensified attacks and an extreme winter.
At the same time, he noted that more than 60 per cent of refugees surveyed by UNHCR envisage returning home despite the uncertainty. While European Union countries continue to provide temporary protection, Ukraine’s long-term recovery will depend in part on the return of its displaced citizens.
Rebuilding the country presents formidable challenges. Schmale said up to one million veterans will need reintegration into society, many bearing lifelong injuries, including amputations. Nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s territory is potentially contaminated by landmines, making it one of the most mined countries in the world and complicating reconstruction.
A rapid damage and needs assessment released jointly by the UN, the Ukrainian Government, the World Bank and the European Union estimates that recovery and reconstruction will cost approximately $590 billion over the next decade — roughly three times Ukraine’s gross domestic product last year. Yet such figures, Schmale cautioned, cannot fully capture “the destruction of the lives of human beings and their souls and mental well-being.” Recovery, he insisted, “must be human-centred and community-based.”
Beyond Ukraine, Baerbock widened her remarks to the broader strain on the multilateral system. Human rights, she said, must be protected “everywhere, every day” — whether in Ukraine, “Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” Sudan, Myanmar or elsewhere. “Unfortunately, some of these crises do not even make it to the news at all,” she observed. Human rights, she added, “are not optional,” recalling that the UN Charter speaks of “all human beings,” not only men.
With the second and final term of Secretary-General António Guterres ending on 31 December, attention is also turning to the selection of the next UN chief. Baerbock noted that all 193 Member States last year issued a collective call to strongly encourage the nomination of women candidates. Yet, she remarked pointedly, as decisions draw nearer, it is sometimes forgotten that “half of the population are indeed women.” Drawing on her own experience in public life, she recounted being asked whether she was “too young” or “too old” — questions she said are posed “way more for women than for men.”
The incoming Secretary-General will also inherit a severe financial crisis. Late, partial or non-payment of assessed contributions by Member States has left the Organization facing funding gaps running into billions. Responding to questions about whether the UN risks financial collapse, Baerbock stressed that “every Member State has to pay its contribution in full and in time,” noting that $160 million currently remains unpaid. Such shortfalls, she warned, are not abstract accounting issues. If humanitarian aid is cut by 20 per cent, it could mean fewer infants receiving life-saving nutrition in crisis zones, particularly as agencies such as the World Health Organization and the World Food Programme face reduced resources.
As diplomats gathered in New York to debate the path forward, the anniversary served as both a reckoning and a warning. Four years of war have left tens of thousands dead or wounded, millions displaced and hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. For UN officials, the central message was clear: peace must be pursued with urgency, and the suffering unleashed since February 2022 must never be allowed to fade into indifference.
– global bihari bureau
