At a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Ukraine, the Director of Financing and Partnerships for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Lisa Doughten, said that “relentless hostilities” have intensified in recent weeks, resulting in the killing and injuring of a large number of civilians, including children. “These attacks have triggered further displacement from frontline and border communities. To date, over 7,000 civilians have been evacuated from border areas of Kharkiv. They have also had a devastating impact on civilians remaining in these areas, depriving them of access to food, healthcare, electricity, and gas,” she explained. In total, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded more than 700 civilian casualties across Ukraine in April, of whom 129 were killed and 574 injured, “a significant increase in the number of civilians injured for the second month in a row,” the director stressed, noting that 90% of civilian casualties were recorded in Ukrainian-controlled territory. Beyond the impact on the Ukrainian population, Doughten also warned of the “massive destruction” of civilian infrastructure caused by Russian strikes. Since 22 March, the UN and partners have documented five waves of attacks targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. OHCHR recorded 50 such incidents in April alone, the director said. The Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions have been particularly affected, with Ukraine’s Energy Ministry reporting up to 250,000 residents affected by power cuts since March. “The impact of these power cuts on the most vulnerable is stark. They have temporarily deprived millions of families of electricity, water, and the gas needed for cooking, heating, hygiene, and other life-saving services,” the OCHA official said. “We are extremely concerned about what appears to be an emerging pattern of attacks on railway infrastructure in eastern and southern Ukraine,” she added, noting that ten such attacks were recorded in April alone, killing 16 civilians and injuring 59 more. The UN is also “concerned” about attacks on factories and production facilities, which are limiting the availability of locally-procured humanitarian goods. “Moreover, the ongoing attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure threaten its capacity to export grain and other agricultural products, at a time when the number of people facing acute food insecurity globally continues to rise year on year,” she said. Caitlin Howarth, representing the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale University, urged member states not to underestimate the scale of the threat posed by the attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, arguing that they target “the beating heart of the civilian population” in order to extinguish the Ukrainian people’s hope. At today’s meeting, convened by Ecuador and France, the United States said that Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine continue to justify Washington’s strong support for Kyiv, which has included the provision of weapons and humanitarian assistance. “It bears repeating that Russia continues to procure ballistic missiles and other munitions from North Korea in violation of Security Council resolutions … and to acquire Iranian-made UAVs, which it is using relentlessly against Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure,” US diplomat Robert Wood charged. “The cost of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is well-documented and investigated. No amount of lies and finger-pointing can obscure the overwhelming body of evidence. There will be accountability,” he added, calling on Russia to cease its aggression and to immediately and fully withdraw from Ukraine. Read Also: More than 7,500 people evacuated in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine (Portuguese version)