‘Nowhere is safe’: UN expert details war toll in Ukraine and Russia’s reach beyond its borders

That Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukrainewho provided an update to the council, said that Russia’s repeated attacks on energy infrastructure are making Ukraine’s civilians more vulnerable to winter ahead of a brutal winter in 2025-2026 in which temperatures will drop by 20°C and millions of people will experience prolonged power and heating outages.

The dangerous winter is coming soon

A 74-year-old woman in Kyiv, who lives in an apartment on the 18th floor, told commissioners that power outages often shut down the elevator, leaving her trapped without medicine or heat.

“There was no way to get in or out,” he said. “I lay cold and hungry, without medicine, without anything.”

Commission Chairman Erik Møse said continued attacks on energy infrastructure were making living conditions increasingly unbearable for civilians.

“We worry that next winter will be even more difficult to bearhe said.

The commission also examined Russia’s efforts to implement patriotic and military education in the occupied territories, by requiring weapons training from age 14 and the recruitment of foreign nationals. lured to Russia with promises of civilian jobs, then forced to sign military contracts they couldn’t read.

Some died soon after reaching the front lines, while others were reported missing, wounded, or captured. The family looking for them said recruitment agencies stopped answering their calls.

The commission will report fully to the UN General Assembly in October.

There is no way out of the country

Separately, Mariana Katzarova, was appointed by the board Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Russiatold delegates in Geneva that Moscow had built a state system to “intimidating and punishing critics abroad and coercing their families at home.”

Ms. Katzarova reports, Nowhere is safebased on nearly 400 documented cases, and found that Russian repression abroad has increased sharply since the 2022 invasion, with between 650,000 and 900,000 people leaving the country.

Documented incidents increased approximately eightfold, from 29 in the eight years before 2022 to 89 in the three years from 2022..

Transnational repression

Katzarova pointed to murders, poisonings and attacks targeting exiled journalists and activists, and told delegates that Russia submitted more “red notices” to INTERPOL than any other country, with about half of the notices reviewed in 2024 found to violate INTERPOL’s own rules.

He described a survivor of torture in Chechnya who twice attempted suicide during 18 months held in Kazakhstan under a Russian extradition request and still faces the risk of torture or death if repatriated.

“There is no escape from transnational oppression,” Katzarova said, calling for a binding UN convention that sets host countries a duty to screen requests for the arrest of Russians and protect people at risk.

Both commission members and the Special Rapporteur are on duty Human Rights Council in an independent, unpaid capacity and does not speak for the UN.