UN News Today 18 August 2025 |

More young lives lost and devastated in Russian attacks on Ukraine: UNICEF

Russian drone strikes on Ukraine including in the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia reportedly killed 10 people including three children, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday.

The development came ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting with President Donald Trump, after his talks on a possible peace deal to end the war, with President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Alaska last Friday.

Condemning the latest attacks in Ukraine, UNICEF said that more young lives had been “lost and devastated”, before appealing for an end to strikes on populated areas.

Footage released by the Ukrainian authorities showed an apartment complex in Kharkiv with a massive hole in the shattered roof and upper floors.

Kharkiv is located in the northeast of the country and just 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) from the Russian border. It has suffered heavy destruction and repeated shelling since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022.

A separate Russian attack on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia left three dead and approximately 20 injured, according to the Ukrainian authorities, who said they had shot down 88 drones and missiles launched overnight.

Gaza food assistance below half the daily target, says WFP

To Gaza, where UN aid teams say that they’re only able to get in less than half the lifesaving food support needed in the wartorn enclave.

In an alert from the World Food Programme (WFP), it said that half a million people “are on the brink of famine” – a claim backed up by multiple humanitarian agencies and latest worrying data showing widespread acute malnutrition.

A ceasefire is the only way to scale up aid deliveries, the UN agency insisted. It explained that although teams are doing everything they can to deliver food assistance, only 47 per cent of the daily target amount is getting in.

Unless the fighting stops, organized aid distributions and WFP-supported hot meals and bakeries can’t restart, the UN agency insisted.

Impacts of Somalia drought made worse by funding cuts: OCHA

In Somalia, severe drought and funding cuts are undermining lifesaving assistance there, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Monday.

Because of the reduction in the amount of support for aid work, food assistance has declined, health centres are closing and malnutrition is high, the UN agency warned.

OCHA said that 4.6 million people now face high levels of food insecurity while two million more are at risk from funding cuts.

Without scaled-up support, “lives will be lost and progress reversed” across the east African nation, where cash shortfalls have left one million people without food assistance every month.

The global trend for less humanitarian assistance has curtailed vital support for healthcare across Somalia. So far this year, it has impacted at least 150 medical facilities and left hundreds of thousands of Somalis without the medical care they need.

OCHA noted that because of cuts, the number of people being targeted for assistance in Somalia has had to be cut by a staggering 72 per cent.

Daniel Johnson, UN News