The UN Security Council met in New York on Monday on Ukraine, one day before US-backed talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations open in Abu Dhabi, and heard that civilian casualties are reaching record highs as Russian strikes on energy infrastructure threaten millions of people with another cold, dark winter. The meeting was requested by Ukraine and supported by the Council's five European members — Latvia, Denmark, France, Greece and the United Kingdom — following the 29 October attacks on Dnipro, Chernihiv and Kremenchuk that reportedly killed at least 19 people and injured more than 50, and it was expected to be chaired by Latvia's Foreign Minister Baiba Braze, with Latvia holding the Council presidency for November.

Source: UN Security Council live blog (meeting request and chair), UN Meetings Coverage, 9 Nov 2026

Opening the meeting, Kayoko Gotoh, Director for Europe and Central Asia in the UN Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, told the Council that 'millions of Ukrainian civilians remain under constant fire as the Russian Federation intensifies attacks on population centres and civilian infrastructure across Ukraine.' She said 'civilian casualties in Ukraine are reaching record highs,' noting that in September 'at least 328 civilians were killed and 2,105 injured, 85 percent higher than in September last year.'

Source: UNifeed (UN Media), 9 Nov 2026

UN News, in its live coverage of the meeting, listed the same September toll and added that strikes on Kyiv's three main power stations in October left 600,000 people without electricity, that at least 43 people were killed when Russian bombs hit an aid shelter in Komyshuvakha, in the Zaporizhzhia region, on 2 November, and that attacks on Black Sea shipping are threatening navigation and global food security.

Source: UN News live coverage, 9 Nov 2026

Gotoh also expressed concern over civilian casualties inside Russia, noting that, according to Russian authorities, at least 53 people were killed and 462 injured in September as a result of Ukrainian strikes in various parts of the Russian Federation. She said that after nearly five years of record levels of death and devastation, 'the war in Ukraine is only getting more dangerous and unpredictable,' that 'the unrelenting attacks are not consistent with the ongoing diplomatic efforts,' and she called for practical steps for immediate de-escalation.

Source: UNifeed (UN Media), 9 Nov 2026

Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mohamed Yahya told the Council that 'civilians are being killed in places where they should be safe. On trains. On hospitals. While seeking humanitarian assistance. Even while trying to save the lives of others.' He said attacks affecting humanitarian personnel and assets have risen sharply this year, and that when they are attacked, assistance is delayed, disrupted or prevented from reaching civilians.

Source: UNifeed (UN Media), 9 Nov 2026

Britain: over 1,540 civilians killed in four months

Britain's Permanent Representative, Ambassador Sarah MacIntosh, told the Council that a Russian drone struck a railway station in Dnipro on 30 October, killing at least 15 civilians and injuring 14; that Russian bombs struck a school operating as an aid centre in the Zaporizhzhia region on 2 November, killing at least 55 Ukrainian civilians — a higher figure than the at least 43 cited by UN News for the Komyshuvakha shelter; and that Russian attacks on 8 November killed a further seven civilians. 'In the last four months, such Russian attacks have killed over 1,540 Ukrainian civilians,' she said, adding that since President Trump called for an energy ceasefire on 11 October, Russia has launched over 150 ballistic missiles at Ukraine, mainly at energy infrastructure, and that the UN Commission of Inquiry concluded last month that the energy attacks constitute war crimes — all of them British government characterisations of the strikes, attributed here to the UK statement.

Source: UK statement at the UN Security Council (Amb. Sarah MacIntosh), GOV.UK, 9 Nov 2026

MacIntosh also said there were 54,000 Russian casualties last month alone, by the UK's account, but that Russia has gained net zero territory this year, and she welcomed the humanitarian ceasefire in Oleshky, brokered with US support, which allowed aid to reach civilians and hundreds to leave. 'Russia is not winning this war,' she said. 'Russia has a choice. Continue the painful and costly war – or choose peace.'

Source: UK statement at the UN Security Council (Amb. Sarah MacIntosh), GOV.UK, 9 Nov 2026

Kyiv: Zelensky ready to meet Putin — anywhere but Moscow

Ukraine's Ambassador Andriy Melnyk told the Council that 'without a summit at the highest level, a breakthrough, a political breakthrough is hardly within the reach,' and said President Volodymyr Zelensky 'stands ready' to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin 'at the earliest occasion.' Looking to the Abu Dhabi talks, he said: 'We shall see what emerges from the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi tomorrow and on Wednesday,' adding that a Zelensky-Putin meeting could take place 'in Florida in December, on the sidelines of G20, or in any other place in the world if need be, even in Antarctica. Anywhere, but not in Moscow.'

Source: UNifeed (UN Media), 9 Nov 2026

Melnyk also called on the UN Secretariat to 'stop putting on an equal footing Russia's genocidal, deliberate and systematic attacks against Ukraine, against our civilian population and the legitimate strike of Ukraine against military targets in Russia exercised our inherent right of self-defence,' saying Ukraine strictly adheres to international humanitarian law — language the Russian delegation rejects, and which is reported here as Ukraine's stated position.

Source: UNifeed (UN Media), 9 Nov 2026

Moscow's ambassador warns Europe

Russia's Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya warned European politicians 'who have been talking about preparations for war with Russia by 2029 to 30, they would be well advised to bear in mind the consequences of this dangerous policy.' He said Russia is not keen to engage in armed confrontation with Europe, but that if European states themselves unleash a war, 'the nature of the confrontation will be different in principle, and the situation may escalate quickly,' adding that this needs to be borne in mind 'by those who so recklessly toy with the prospect of direct military confrontation with a nuclear power.'

Source: UNifeed (UN Media), 9 Nov 2026

Monday's Council session lands on the eve of the Abu Dhabi round, where a US official has spoken of new flexibility on territory — the shape of the deal being tested on Tuesday and Wednesday. Read: US official sees territory flexibility ahead of Abu Dhabi talks

What happens next

The Council took no vote on Monday in the coverage reviewed. Attention now moves to Abu Dhabi, where US-backed talks between Russia and Ukraine are slated for 10-11 November, and to whether Melnyk's summit offer — a Zelensky-Putin meeting on the sidelines of the December G20 in Florida, or anywhere except Moscow — gets any answer from the Kremlin. With winter approaching and Ukraine's grid already hit, the UN briefers' warning stands: the attacks and the diplomacy are running in opposite directions.