UN chief says 'death spiral must stop' as Ukraine war escalates

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a dire appeal Thursday, pleading for an end to Russia's war against Ukraine that he says is increasingly becoming a "death spiral."

"The direction of the war – the escalation and the intensification that we are witnessing – risks to get out of control. The risk of miscalculation. The risk of escalation with unknown and unintended consequences," Guterres told a meeting of the Security Council.

"And so, let’s speak plainly. The current course is not sustainable. This trajectory must change. The death spiral must stop. What is needed now is de-escalation – immediate and sustained. What is needed now is a full and unconditional ceasefire. What is needed now is more diplomacy," he added.

Highlighting the gravity of the conflict, the UN has recorded more civilian deaths in Ukraine in the first four months of 2026 than over the same period going back to 2022, the year in which Russia began the war.

Battlelines, meanwhile, have remained largely stagnant.

Earlier Thursday, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoygu said the Russian-US peace initiative on Ukraine is “stalling.”

“The main obstacle to its implementation remains the complete absence of political will for peace on the part of the Kyiv regime and its constant desire for escalation,” he said at the International Security Forum in the Moscow region.

Shoygu argued that the Ukrainian leadership feared a settlement because it would have to answer for the consequences of its policies, including what he described as a demographic crisis in the country.