Ukraine, Uganda, Syria & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

All right. Good afternoon.

As a programming note, you are welcome to be here tomorrow, but no one else will be because the building will be closed. There will be no briefing as we mark the 250th anniversary of our host country, the United States. And we congratulate them. Um, but we will, um, of course, uh, remain available for you remotely if you have any questions. On Monday, uh, we will have a— as our guests, um, we'll have a joint briefing with the UN, uh, the Administrator of the UN Development Programme, Alexander DuCroux, and the High Commissioner for Refugees, Barnham Salih. They will be joining us both, uh, live from Kabul.

As they are wrapping up a joint mission to Afghanistan. Then at 1:15 PM, there will be a briefing here in person by Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, and the UN Police Advisor Faisal Shakhar. They will be here to brief you ahead of the 5th UN Chiefs of Police Summit, otherwise known as UN COPS 2026. Please feel free to join. We're happy to have you here. Oh, there was a stakeout. Okay, that's okay. That's all right. All right. Seatbelts fastened? Very ready to go? All right. Speaking of going, the— as the Secretary-General said yesterday, he is heading to Geneva. He will get there on Sunday to take part in the inaugural session of the Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence, Governance. And you will recall that the Global Digital Compact adopted at the Summit of the Future in 2024 included among its commitments the creation of a global dialogue on artificial intelligence governance to serve as an inclusive space within the United Nations for governments, for civil society, and other stakeholders to discuss artificial intelligence. Last year, the dialogue was established by the General Assembly to build common approaches to the governance of artificial intelligence. In the same resolution, the Assembly also created the International Scientific Panel on AI, the first global scientific panel on the issue of artificial intelligence. Um, and in his remarks during the Dialogue's opening session on Monday, the Secretary-General is expected to reiterate that as AI is already transforming our world, for the first time, the Global Dialogue on AI Governance is giving every country a seat at the table, something he has been advocating since early on in his mandate. Also on Monday, Joshua Benjo and Maria Ressa, the co-chairs of the panel from whom you heard yesterday, will present their preliminary report to member states. And throughout the day, the Secretary-General will have a number of bilateral meetings with leaders and stakeholders that are taking part in the Global Dialogue. In the afternoon at the Palais des Nations, The Secretary-General will deliver remarks during a meeting of the International Law Commission, and he will head back this way on Tuesday morning. Also, just wanted to flag that the— well, the Global Dialogue on AI Governance takes place in Geneva on Monday and Tuesday. It kicks off what our colleagues have dubbed Geneva Digital Week. Also happening that week from the 6th to 10th of July is the World Summit on Information Society organized by the International Telecommunications Union. Finally, Geneva is also the host city for the AI for Good Global Summit organized by the ITU with various UN partners and co-convened by our friends, the government of Switzerland. More information online for all of this.

And turning to Ukraine, the Secretary-General strongly condemns the overnight, overnight missile and drone attacks by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the capital city Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. There have been reports of at least 20 people killed and dozens injured, as well as civilian infrastructure struck. Any attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur, are a clear violation of international humanitarian law and must stop immediately. The Secretary-General reiterates his appeal for urgent de-escalation leading to a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire. Following the attacks in Kyiv, which were one of the largest since the escalation of the war, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, noted that the loss and fear caused by this attack By the Russian armed forces and every other attack intensifies people's psychological trauma.

Mr. Shmyhal stressed that civilians in Kyiv and across the country should not be bracing for another— yet another attack, as they are protected under international law. Our humanitarian colleagues note that these latest attacks are part of a deadly pattern of strikes in densely populated areas across Ukraine. Between December of last year and May of this year, civilian casualties rose by 40% compared to the same period a year earlier. That's what the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission has said. Aid partners, including local NGOs and UN agencies, are providing psychological first aid and registering impacted families for humanitarian cash assistance.

Uh, moving to Uganda.

The Secretary-General is following closely recent developments in Uganda and notes with concern reports regarding the detention of political and civic actors in the country, including cases of which the whereabouts of some individuals have yet to be clearly established. He recalls that freedom of expression, including the independence of the media, as well as the rights to liberty and security of person, are enshrined in Uganda's Constitution as well as international human rights obligations. He encourages all stakeholders to exercise restraint and uphold the rule of law. And turning to Syria, I can tell you that the Secretary-General expresses his deep concern about the explosion today near the Palace of Justice in Damascus. He extends his condolences to the families of those killed and expresses his sympathy to all those injured. Wishing them a full and speedy recovery. The Secretary-General reiterates that attacks against civilians are unacceptable, stressing that those responsible must be identified and brought to justice. He takes note that the Syrian authorities have committed to investigating this attack. And a quick update from southern Lebanon, where over the past few days our UNIFIL colleagues have observed extensive Israel defense of forces' ground activities throughout the UN Mission's area of operations. Yesterday, peacekeepers also detected 37 air violations in their area of operations. On Tuesday, they detected two trajectory of projectiles from south to north, that was in Sector East, as well as one airstrike in, in Deir Sirian. Peacekeepers continue to face obstruction to their freedom of movement on the ground, including routes— blocked by barriers, by debris, and other obstacles which have impacted their ability to conduct their Security Council-mandated work. Despite these challenges, UNIFIL continues to facilitate humanitarian access. Yesterday, in cooperation with our OCHA colleagues, the mission facilitated 13 humanitarian missions in Sector West, following 14 missions on Tuesday across both sectors. Sectors west and east. Meanwhile, in other areas of Lebanon, we are continuing to provide support. The focus is not on supporting the returnees and is on— is on— excuse me, the focus is now on supporting the returnees and vulnerable families with food, water, health, shelter, and cash assistance. As you will recall, last month on June 5th, we, alongside the Government of Lebanon, launched a revised and extended flash appeal through August of this year. The appeal seeks nearly $640 million to provide life-saving assistance to 1.4 million vulnerable people. As of today, the appeal is less than 38% funded, which translates to just $242 million in the bank. Additional resources are urgently needed to sustain critical assistance to support safe, voluntary, and dignified returns. Many returnees are arriving to find their homes damaged and critical services disrupted. People also contending with limited opportunities to resume their livelihoods. We underscore over and over again that all return— all returnees must have access to humanitarian services, which means that we must have unimpeded access for our humanitarian colleagues And we also need civilians to be protected, as well as humanitarian personnel and health workers. Turning to the occupied Palestinian territory, our colleagues at UNRWA today report that it continues implementing cleaning campaigns, community awareness activities, and targeted pesticide applications in the Gaza Strip alongside solid waste disposal and other efforts to improve environmental conditions. In total, UNRWA says that since June July 7th, measures to control the spread of disease-carrying animals and pests have been implemented over the 370 displacement sites across Gaza, which are jointly hosting more than 680,000 people. We and our partners also continue to support people in Gaza with food. Last month, partners provided general food assistance to over 750,000 people throughout 3 dozen distribution sites as part of the monthly distribution cycle. As of earlier this week, about 120,000 2-kilogram bread bun— bundles were produced every day by about 30 bakeries, which are being subsidized. Additionally, as of last Wednesday, partners were preparing more than 700,000 meals every day through about 100 community kitchens. These meals are delivered over 1,100 locations, including hospitals. Our partners to support food Food security warn of shortages in refrigeration, without which people have less access to fresh food.

Approvals are urgently needed to bring in, to bring in, to bring in the relevant equipment, especially as temperatures rise. Meanwhile, our partners working on shelter said that last week they provided some 4,000 households with tents, tarpaulins, bedding kits, clothes, including through vouchers. They also repaired and upgraded about 850 makeshift shelters, completed repair for about 450 damaged homes. Still, they warned stocks are nearly depleted because of supply chain disruptions and funding gaps. On malnutrition, screening and treatment are ongoing. In the first half of June, partners screened over 31,000 children, identifying acute malnutrition in nearly 15,000 1,500 of them, including more than 200 severe cases. All have been enrolled for treatment. They also screened nearly 24,000 pregnant women and pregnant and breastfeeding women who are providing treatment to those affected. However, the humanitarian response in Gaza is still falling short of what is needed, and more must be done to enable and fund our operations. Moving back to the African continent and Sudan, our colleagues at UNHCR, the Refugee Agency, are deeply deplore an incident that took place yesterday in where a UNHCR-contracted truck was reportedly hit by a drone near Tendelti in West Darfur State. Thankfully, the driver was unharmed. However, 50 metric tons of UNHCR humanitarian relief items that were being transported to Abu Jubeiya in South Kordofan were destroyed. That part of that stock, um, includes 1,000 non-food item kits, including 3,000 blankets, 200 jerry cans, 1,000 kitchen sets, 3,000 sleeping mats, and 2,000 plastic sheets, and 1,000 solar lamps.

All of that was meant for some of the most vulnerable people that have been impacted for the conflict, and now it is just destroyed.

As a result, thousands of people who depend on this assistance will now go without the the urgent relief they need. We remain concerned, obviously, about the broader escalation of violence across the country and the mounting humanitarian needs. In White Nile State, humanitarian partners reported on July 1st a multiple drone strike in Kosti City.

At least 3 civilians were injured in that attack.

And despite these severe challenges, we continue to provide assistance wherever we can. In South Kordofan, WHO announced a few days ago that a convoy carrying 8.5 metric tons of interagency— of cholera— excuse me, of medical supplies including cholera kits joined an interagency convoy bound for Dillingen-Kadugli.

The supplies are expected to help address the growing needs in the state and strengthen our outbreak preparedness and response efforts to cholera and other diseases.

We obviously yet again call for the protection of civilians and the protection of civilian infrastructure, and we also urged donors to scale up funding to meet the needs. Elizabeth Spejhar, back here in the Security Council, Assistant Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, briefed the Security Council this morning on the situation in the Gulf, saying the past weekend witnessed a troubling resurgence of military confrontation between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. We welcome the resumption of dialogue between the US and Iran and encourage both sides to sustain engagement to advance the implementation of the 17 May memorandum— 17 June, excuse me— Memorandum of Understanding. Ms. Sperghorst said the Secretary-General welcomes the joint decision to de-escalate and exercise restraint. This offers a measure of hope that dialogue and diplomacy can regain momentum. At the same time, the events of the weekend serve as a stark reminder of the fragility of the current situation and the acute risk of further escalation, adding that the Secretary-General unequivocally condemns all attacks against civilians, civilian infrastructure. Such actions are unacceptable. Residential areas, ports, energy facilities, commercial vessels, and maritime personnel must be protected. And just an update from— about Ebola and other diseases. From the DRC, the response to the Ebola outbreak continues across the eastern provinces of Ituri, North and South Kivu. Starting in Ituri, health authorities have confirmed at least 2 Ebola cases in the Kingonzi displacement camp in Bunia. The site hosts 15,000 people who have been displaced by the ongoing fighting in the We and our humanitarian partners are responding to both the health emergency and the broader humanitarian situation in support of national and local authorities. An Ebola treatment center has currently been established at the displacement site. A new program providing free healthcare to displaced people was launched today. Partners are also scaling up community outreach and disease prevention efforts, including the installation of handwashing stations.

However, lack of community trust continues to hamper public health interventions.

You'll recall a few days ago we announced that Julian Harnais was being— was named as the Special Ebola Coordinator. Well, he arrived in Kinshasa yesterday to officially assume his new role. He will be based in Bunia in the east, which is the epicenter. He will be working closely with WHO, national authorities, and others to support the scale-up of the response, reinforce coordination, address operational challenges, and help ensure support reaches people who need it as quickly as possible. Another health issue to flag from that part of the world, this time in Uganda. National authorities have notified the World Health Organization of one confirmed case of the Marburg virus, and that case is in the Kigegwa district in the country's west. For those of you who don't know, Marburg is a highly lethal form of hemorrhagic fever. WHO is supporting the local response, including investigations, active case findings, contact tracing, and community engagement. Uganda has responded to 4 previous Marburg outbreaks using similar measures that it applied in Ebola. Meanwhile, there have been no new cases confirmed of Ebola in Uganda since January 21st, which is good news. A quick note from the World Food Programme that is warning today that the number of food insecure people in 3 northeastern states in Nigeria has increased to 6.2 million. WFP is currently able to support 740,000 people only, leaving more than 5.5 million, particularly children, without life-saving food and nutrition assistance. This is down from 1.3 million people reached at the height of the lean season last year. This dire situation has been compounded by access constraints, severe funding shortfalls, making it all much more difficult. WFP needs $89 million over the next 6 months to sustain food and nutrition assistance, ensuring that vulnerable families are not forced to make impossible choices as hunger gains. Lastly, it's a long weekend, uh, So I want to flag that Saturday is the International Day of Cooperatives. More than 12% of humanity belongs to one of the world's 3 million cooperatives, which provide jobs and work opportunities to 280 million people globally. There's some cooperatives right here in New York City.

Yes, Gabriel, you know the drill. I stop, you start, and then Efraim.

Thank you, Steph. I actually have a question about Venezuela. It's been a week since that double earthquake hit that country. I know we've heard from several UN officials in the country over the last several days, which has been very helpful, by the way. But a week into this, from the Secretary-General's standpoint, can you sort of give us an outlook of where the UN as a whole feels that the last week has gone in a response as a UN as a whole, and where you foresee the UN response in the coming days, weeks, and perhaps even months, given the high number of people that are still missing?

Listen, I think there's been a tremendous amount of international solidarity. We saw, I think, if I'm not mistaken, some 30 search and rescue teams from different countries arrive very quickly. They're working working well on the, on the ground. This is a long-haul game, right? And we've already talked about the need to start transferring from immediate search and rescue to more reconstruction, both physical reconstruction and psychological reconstruction for the people impacted. Next week, our OCHA colleagues, I think, will convene a conference to look at that transition to see how we can get more funding. The challenges in these things is that you always get a— I mean, in the best-case scenario, you get a very solid first wave of international solidarity, and I think we saw that, right? But it's a long game, and that solidarity will need to be sustained, as you say, for the next weeks, months, and years.

Efraim.

Thank you, Steph, on the the attack on the, the truck in UNHCR truck in Sudan. Do you know where the drones came from? Who attacked?

No, we have no— I mean, no, no idea. I mean, we've seen different parties in this conflict use drones, as you know as well as I do. Drones are inexpensive to procure, pretty easy to operate. What we do know is that thousands and thousands of much-needed relief items were destroyed. Why? Why would anyone want to prevent people from getting blankets and plastic sheetings and the basic necessities that they need to survive?

That's a question I can't even begin to answer.

Yes. And do you have any update for us on al-Ubayyid? —especially after the call by Tom Fletcher yesterday—another warning from a top UN official about the imminent attack on the city. Do you have any update for us, or at least any update on the diplomatic activity being—

I had hoped to give you an update from Mr.

Harvey Stowe, who's having some meetings.

Hopefully we'll be able to share something with you either later today or over the weekend. Volodymyr.

Thank you, Stefan.

We keep seeing the same pattern when military targets and oil facilities in Russia are burning. Russia attacks apartment buildings and shopping centers in Ukraine. Today, a large Red Cross warehouse in Kyiv was also destroyed. Again, why? Does the Secretary-General think that a country that does this should be part of UN peacekeeping missions? Thank you.

Um, listen, I think, uh, we have made very clear the Secretary General's condemnation of the attacks by the Russian Federation today and others, uh, as well.

Um, it is important that every member of this organization live up to the values that they signed upon when they signed the— signed into— signed the Charter.

Madame.

Thank you. And my question is about Gaza. So after 1,000 days of war in Gaza, what does the Secretary-General believe must happen now?

To end the conflict in Gaza? Well, I mean, first of all, we need to see greater humanitarian greater humanitarian access. We need to see the withdrawal of Israel from, from Gaza.

We need to see a unified Palestinian political presence that is the same in, in the occupied West Bank as it is in, in Gaza.

And we need all of the parties to recommit to a two-state solution and the international community to support them.

Aziz.

Thank you, Stéphane. I have a question about Jean Arnaud, who has just moved to Lebanon to assume a new role.

Is he still the Secretary-General's envoy for

Yes, he will conduct his contacts either virtually or in person from the region.

Do you have any updates regarding the talks that have just wrapped up in Qatar?

No, he was not there. I don't have any particular UN-based updates for you on that. Okay, I wish you all a wonderful weekend. If you want to stay in this room, which is pretty cool, for the next 3 days, We can keep it open.