The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Cuba, Francisco Pichon, told reporters in New York that one month since United States President Donald Trump issued an executive order that created “a fuel blockade for Cuba,” its humanitarian consequences are “deepening by the day.”
Pichon said, “hat we see on the ground is not a temporary shortage, it is a more systemic energy shock that has become the primary humanitarian risk multiplier.”
The 29 January executive order had authorized the imposition of new tariffs on imports from countries that directly or indirectly supply oil to the Government of Cuba.
Pichon said, “the vulnerabilities are rapidly escalating into more acute, humanitarian risks. So, what we find, essential services being scaled back, being disrupted, and daily life for the ordinary people increasingly becoming more fragile.”
Following a US Supreme Court ruling that declared most of the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) illegal, a new executive order was issued on 20 February removing the tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba.
The Resident Coordinator said, “although the US government eliminated the specific tariff mechanisms threatening countries which supply oil to Cuba with tariffs – this as a result of the decision of the Supreme Court last week – the national emergency declared on January 29th remains in effect.”
He noted that additional sanctions to countries that provide oil to Cuba are expected and said, “Cuba continues, in fact, to be designated as an unusual and extraordinary threat to the US national security.”
Pichon said, “Cuba depends 90 percent on fossil fuels for energy generation and there is a significant deficit of more than 30 percent of the minimum demand that is required. So, the oil that is available locally, that is produced locally – and I think there might be questions about the capacity of the country to refine it in a moment like this – does help maintain electricity generation to a minimum level.”
Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
Ukraine
South Sudan
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Migrants
International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)
UKRAINE
The UN continues to condemn the attacks by the armed forces of the Russian Federation against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. Such attacks, wherever they occur, violate international humanitarian law and are unacceptable, unjustifiable and must stop immediately.
From the ground, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that overnight, a large-scale drone and missile attack, combined with front-line hostilities, resulted in civilian casualties and damaged homes and critical infrastructure across the country.
Hostilities resulted in dozens of residential buildings damaged in Kyiv, as well as in Kirovohradska, Kyivska, and Vinnytska oblasts. In the Odesa region, some 40,000 families were left without electricity, and in the Poltava region, damage to gas facilities disrupted power supply for around 20,000 families and businesses. The Ministry of Energy reported additional outages in several eastern and southern regions, continuing a pattern of winter attacks on energy systems.
UN humanitarian partners on the ground provided materials for basicrepairs as well as first aid.
Last month, authorities and our partners said nearly 7,000 people were evacuated from front-line areas in eastern Ukraine.
SOUTH SUDAN
On South Sudan, the UN has seen the violence spiraling across the country, and in particular an incident last weekend involving the brutal killing of civilians in Ayod County, Jonglei State. The UN understands that an investigation is underway.
The UN reiterates that violence against civilians is unacceptable. Civilians must be protected at all times. The UN calls again on all parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law.
As Tom Fletcher, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, witnessed in South Sudan earlier this week, the humanitarian situation in the country is rapidly deteriorating, driven by renewed clashes, soaring civilian displacement due to insecurity and constraints on humanitarian access.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ramiz Alakbarov, today wrapped up his two-day visit to Gaza Strip. Before leaving Gaza, he joined a medical evacuation mission at the Rafah crossing, where the UN and its partners help patients and their caregivers go to Egypt for urgent medical treatment. He also visited a reception centre in Rafah supporting people who are returning to Gaza.
Mr. Alakbarov spent the last two days in Gaza meeting with our partners, visiting humanitarian facilities supported by ourselves as well as others, and assessing gaps and challenges in the response.
Meanwhile, UN partners leading on water, sanitation and hygiene services tell us that, in the last few months, they have delivered 17,000 hygiene kits to children and their families.
Hundreds of water tanks have been installed near tents since the ceasefire took hold. This makes it easier for people to find access to clean water. While needs remain immense, our humanitarian partners continue to do everything possible to scale up assistance under what remains very challenging circumstances.
On food security, UN partners report that, this month, families in Gaza have on average had two meals a day, compared to one meal a day in July of 2025. While this marks a modest improvement, many families tell us our colleagues that they are struggling to afford food and other essential goods. To help put food on the table, in January, humanitarians provided cash assistance to three quarters of a million people in Gaza.
And on shelter, this month, UN partners say that they have provided tents, tarpaulins and other supplies to more than 27,000 displaced families.
Additionally, today, in the city of Bani Suhaila in Khan Younis, more than 400 vulnerable families living in this area received food and other essential supplies.
Aid workers are also distributing emergency shelter material, consisting mainly of salvaged timber and metal pallets, in Khan Younis and Gaza city. The material is being used to build housing units that can endure harsh weather conditions which are continuing. Most families across Gaza live in unsafe structures, as hundreds of thousands of housing units have now been damaged since October 2023.
The UN once again appeals for the lifting of restrictions on the entry of construction materials into Gaza Strip, so families can move toward safe and sustainable housing solutions.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-02-26
On 25 February 2026, the UN Movie Society of the United Nations Staff Recreation Council is honoured to present a special edition of our Reel Compassion series. As we approach the 98th Academy Awards, we go behind the lens to explore the universal role of education and the power of storytelling in the remote "hinterlands" of the world.
On this occasion, the event will take a curated look at the work of filmmakers David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin, whose latest film – MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN – has captured global attention for its "passionate heart" and its intimate portrayal of an educator’s dedication to his students.
Moving away from the headlines, this conversation focuses on a more universal story: the role of education in a changing world. We will discuss the human experience of teaching, the responsibility of the storyteller, and the quiet resilience required to protect the integrity of a classroom—highlighting that every child has a fundamental right to an education that encourages critical thinking and freedom of thought.
In the spirit of the International Day of Education, which took place at the beginning of the year, we bridge the gap between international ideals and personal experience, highlighting how cinema can promote the universal values of peace, cultural appreciation, and the dignity of the human person.
PROGRAMME
Presentation
UN Movie Society
of the United Nations Staff Recreation Council
Brenda Vongova, Artistic Director
Interview with Oscar-Nominated Directors
David Borenstein & Pavel Talankin
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SPECIAL THANKS
UN Department of Global Communications
Arnošt Kareš
Consul General of Czech Republic in Los Angeles
Producers:
Producers: Made in Copenhagen (Denmark) and PINK (Czech Republic)
Robin Hessman, Translator & Executive Producer
Cameramen & Video Editing
Liam Lui Martin
Opening and Closing Music:
UN Chamber Music Society of the United Nations Staff Recreation Council
Brenda Vongova, Artistic Director
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said international cooperation under the drug control conventions remains vital to protecting global health and reducing the social and economic harms of illicit drugs. Using real-time data-sharing tools that prevented the diversion of three tons of a fentanyl precursor last year, States are strengthening efforts to counter synthetic drug threats while safeguarding legitimate trade.
Briefing by Valentine Rugwabiza, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central African Republic and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), on the situation in the Central African Republic.
“On 28th December 2025, the Central African Republic reached an important milestone in the consolidation of the peace process and state authority,” the UN’s top official in the country told the Security Council, pointing to nationwide elections as a sign of political progress.
Valentine Rugwabiza, head of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), said the combined presidential, legislative, regional and municipal polls marked a historic moment.
“These elections, which included the first municipal polls which were held since 1988, represented the most extensive electoral operations ever undertaken in the Central African Republic,” she said.
Rugwabiza described the vote as the result of joint work by the Central African Government and MINUSCA.
She said, “the mission conducted good offices and provided both technical, logistical, operational and security support. The good offices of the mission helped foster inclusivity in the electoral process. Including positive developments for parity with women, representing more than 47 percent of the voters and 45 percent of the candidates in the municipal elections.”
However, she cautioned that security challenges persist. “Ongoing attacks by attacking militia targeting civilians and local authorities remain a concern,” she said, noting that 21 voting centres could not open on the election day.
UN agencies warned the humanitarian situation in Somalia has “significantly worsened”, citing the latest food security report, “with 6.5 million people – a third of the population – facing crisis levels of hunger through March this year.”
World Food Programme (WFP)’s Ross Smith and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s Rein Paulsen briefed reporters today (25 Feb) on the recently released Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) for Somalia. They both briefed via video links from Rome. The report was released on Tuesday (24 Feb).
WFP’s Ross Smith said, “malnutrition is deepening, in 2026, we have over 1.8 million children under the age of five facing acute malnutrition, with half of these expected face severe malnutrition. And these are really alarming numbers for a country the size of Somalia.”
Smith also highlighted the urgent need for funding WFP’s activities in Somalia. He said, “the lifesaving emergency food and nutrition assistance that we provide, the support from other partners will be forced to be cut to the most vulnerable and eventually will come to an end post April.”
The WFP official continued, “Due to these critical funding shortfalls, our assistance WFP assistance has decreased from 64 districts to 42, leaving entire areas without food assistance. And we’re currently only assisting just over 600,000 of the 6.5 million people facing crisis levels of hunger. This is down from 2.2 million people that we supported this time last year.”
Smith pointed out that life saving nutrition services have also been slashed by more than half. He said, “from over 400,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under five receiving support to just about 100,000 in January of this year.”
He added, “cash transfers have been significantly reduced, and this is critical to mention because there are many places where access is limited and where markets are still functioning and cash transfers are the only option for support in Somalia.”
For his part, FAO’s Rein Paulsen highlighted the drought in the country is having a “devastating” effect on agriculture.
He explained, “concretely, this means widespread crops and livestock losses in addition to large scale displacements of people. And when reference was made to two rainy seasons that were misses, just to put that in number terms, when it comes to food production, the last main cereal harvest was 83 per cent lower than the long term average, between 1995 and 2025.”
Paulsen also said, “what’s unfolding in Somalia now needs to be and should be understood primarily as a rural crisis, not exclusively, but primarily.”
He explained that two thirds of the drought hotspots, 19 of the 30 hotspots identified in this IPC analysis are in rural areas in the country.
For FAO activities, it needs 85 million US dollars to support a million of the most vulnerable, high risk, underserved rural people at the moment, Paulsen said, adding “to date, we have just six million US dollars to respond, so we are really running on fumes.”
Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
– Sudan
– Central African Republic
– Western Sahara
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Lebanon/Israel
– Waste Trafficking
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SUDAN
The UN remains deeply concerned by the escalating harm to civilians as fighting intensifies in North Darfur State.
The International Organization for Migration tells us that nearly 2,700 people were displaced following attacks on Misteriya town in the locality of Kebkabiya in recent days. A local organization, the Sudan Doctors Network, says that 28 civilians were killed and 39 others were injured in these attacks.
We call again for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and for the parties to the conflict to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
This morning, Valentine Rugwabiza, the head of our peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, briefed the Security Council via video link.
Reflecting on the elections late last year, she said the Central African Republic reached an important milestone with the first municipal polls held since 1988, and the most extensive electoral operation ever undertaken in the Central African Republic.
Ms. Rugwabiza noted that serious security challenges persist, particularly in the southeast, in the Haut-Mbomou Prefecture. In the northeast, she added, the conflict in Sudan has driven over 11,000 refugees into the Vakaga Prefecture, adding pressure on already limited services and it is also heightening local tensions.
The Special Representative added that the mission remains engaged with local authorities and communities and continues to consolidate its presence to enhance the protection of civilians.
Finally, turning to the impact of liquidity constraints, the Special Representative said the mission is implementing efficiency measures, while ensuring that available resources are dedicated to the protection of civilians, and that the Mission’s footprint preserves coverage in priority areas.
Full Highlight: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-02-25
In this 360° virtual reality video, follow Major Sifamwelwa Akalaluka from Zambia as she helps maintain an uneasy calm along the Sudanese border in the Central African Republic and directs MINUSCA’s community engagement efforts in Birao.
Join her as she leads a Mixed Engagement Platoon observing, engaging, and reporting – helping to protect communities, including women and children at the fragile border.
MINUSCA, the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, was established in 2014 and maintains almost 17,000 personnel across the country.
Diverse peacekeeping teams such as Major Akalaluka’s make UN Peacekeeping more efficient and responsive to the needs of those we serve.
This video is made possible thanks to the support of the Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations.
It is a partnership between the Department of Peace Operations, the Department of Global Communications and the UN Mission in the Central African Republic.
Briefing by Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, on behalf of António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine – Security Council, 10110th meeting.
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“Four years after the Russian Federation launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the war remains a stain on our collective conscience,” UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council.
Briefing the Security Council today (24 Feb) on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, DiCarlo said, “Day after day – year after year – we have witnessed the cascading consequences of this blatant violation of international law, including the UN Charter.”
She told the Council that despite diplomatic efforts, “last year was the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians since 2022.” More than 15,000 civilians have been killed and more than 41,000 injured since the invasion began, she said, with millions displaced and human rights violations being “rampant.”
“The plight of Ukrainian children is particularly dire,” DiCarlo added. More than 3,200 children have been killed or injured, over one-third remain displaced, and an estimated 2.2 million require humanitarian assistance. “A whole generation has lost years of education as schools have come under fire,” DiCarlo said.
She also cited findings by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of “widespread human rights violations – torture, sexual violence, and even executions of prisoners of war and civilian detainees,” adding, that “these acts have gone with virtually no accountability.”
United Kingdom Minister Stephen Doughty recalled visiting Bucha, where a priest told him of “shocking atrocities carried out by the Russians,” describing how he dug graves for members of his congregation. “That conversation stays with me because it shows how Russia wages this war,” Doughty said.
He also noted that Moscow is showing “the same disregard for civilian lives” as in the killing of Alexei Navalny, which Doughty said he was confident “was the result of lethal poisoning.”
Doughty announced that London was unveiling the “largest package of measures since 2022, targeting oil revenues and components, fueling that war machine,” and said partners were working to defend the UN charter, “because Russia’s war is illegal and unprovoked.”
Latvia’s Foreign Minister Baiba Braže said, “There’s only one country and one man standing between us here and peace. This country is Russia and this man is Vladimir Putin,” urging countries to “exert maximum pressure on Russia.”
Deputy Representative Tammy Bruce of the US said, “We are closer to a deal right now than at any point since the war began, but we have obviously not reached it yet.” She noted that “the fighting continues” but said President Trump is “committed to peace” and determined to end “the carnage.”
Russia’s ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, said Russian intelligence had published a report alleging plans by London and Paris to deliver nuclear weapons to Kyiv, including what he called “the so-called dirty bomb.”
“One option being considered is the French TN75 compact warhead from the M51.1 submarine-launched ballistic missile,” Nebenzya said, describing what he called a “clandestine handover” of European components and technology.
The United Kingdom rejected the claim with Doughty calling it “an outright lie,” adding, “This is yet another piece of disinformation from the Russian Federation, and a clear attempt to deflect attention from its ongoing, unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa told the Council that in one recent month alone, Russia launched “over 6000 strike drones, approximately 5500 guided aerial bombs and 158 missiles of various types against Ukrainian people.”
“It is terror directed not at armies but at maternity wards, hospitals, apartment buildings, power plants and buses carrying workers. It is terror meant to extinguish light, heat and hope. Men do not fight like this. Human beings do not act to one another like this,” she said.
Speaking earlier at the stakeout, Betsa welcomed a General Assembly call for “the immediate, full and unconditional cease fire and for comprehensive justice and lasting peace, in line with UN charter and international law.” She underscored the need for “the complete exchange of prisoners of war” and safe return of all internees and civilians who have been "forcibly transferred or deported, including thousands of Ukrainian children.”
Full remarks [as delivered]: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statements/2026-02-24/secretary-generals-remarks-the-security-council-ukraine-delivered
