Russia launched 656 drones and 73 missiles in a large-scale overnight attack on 1–2 June that targeted Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv, reportedly killing numerous people and injuring more than 100, including children and rescuers, according to an EU statement to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna.
The EU said Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has lasted 1,562 days and has caused civilian suffering and widespread destruction, the European External Action Service reported on Tuesday.
Russia was urged to agree to an “unconditional and immediate ceasefire”, while the EU said it would intensify pressure “in coordination with our international partners” for Russia to enter “meaningful negotiations” and end its aggression.
The EU repeated its support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, and said any peace should be rooted in international law, the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act — a key Cold War-era agreement on security and human rights signed in 1975.
Children, detainees and foreign support for Russia
Children were among those most affected by the war, with 791 killed and 2,752 injured across Ukraine from February 2022 to April 2026, based on United Nations data cited in the EU statement.
The EU said Ukrainian children had been displaced and that some were “forcibly transferred or deported”, adding it was part of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children and demanding the “immediate and safe return” of all children described as deported or forcibly transferred.
It also called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of prisoners of war and “all unlawfully detained civilians”, including three OSCE staff members named as Vadym Golda, Maxim Petrov and Dmytro Shabanov.
The EU urged all countries to cease any direct or indirect assistance to Russia’s war effort, including the supply of “dual-use” goods — items that can have both civilian and military applications — and condemned the deployment of North Korean forces and continued military support from Iran, Belarus and North Korea.
Separately, the EU said it had condemned what it called a Russian violation of Romania’s airspace earlier in the week, and said Russia bore “full responsibility” for the consequences of what it described as escalatory behaviour.
A group of countries including Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, San Marino and Ukraine aligned themselves with the EU statement.
