Ukraine has been elected to the UN Human Rights Council for the 2027–2029 term, receiving support from 162 UN member states in a vote by the UN General Assembly on 13 October, Ukraine’s Permanent Mission to the UN said.

The three-year term gives Ukraine an opportunity to shape international human rights discussions while drawing attention to abuses stemming from Russia’s war. Kyiv says it will work with partners to strengthen accountability mechanisms and protect civilians affected by conflict.

Ukraine’s Permanent Mission to the UN called the result a major diplomatic achievement, saying its team had spent more than a year securing support for the candidacy.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv would use its membership to push for accountability for Russian human rights violations, support international investigations, and advocate for prisoners of war and civilians unlawfully detained by Russia.

Ukraine will also continue efforts to secure the return of Ukrainian children deported or forcibly transferred by Russia, Sybiha said.

Ukraine to focus on accountability for Russian violations

Ukraine’s election comes as Russia continues its full-scale war against the country, which has brought grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law consistently since 2022.

As a council member, Ukraine plans to work with international partners to strengthen mechanisms for documenting and investigating abuses, protect human dignity, and reinforce international human rights institutions, Sybiha said.

Ukraine is returning to the council after previously serving multiple terms, most recently from 2021 to 2023. It was among the council’s founding members when the body was established in 2006.

Russia was suspended from the UN Human Rights Council in April 2022 following reports of gross and systematic human rights violations during its war against Ukraine. Moscow subsequently announced it was withdrawing from the council.

15 countries elected to the council

Alongside Ukraine, the General Assembly elected Brazil, Ghana, the Dominican Republic, Zambia, Ireland, Jordan, Kuwait, Moldova, Nepal, Nigeria, Germany, Uruguay, and Japan to the Human Rights Council.

The 47-member council is the UN’s principal intergovernmental body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights worldwide. Members serve three-year terms.

Ukraine wants the EU to force Moscow into a ceasefire with frozen Russian assets, trade and transit embargoes, maritime bans, and entry bans, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X after the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 12 October 2026. He also welcomed new EU sanctions listings adopted that day and progress in Ukraine’s EU accession talks.

Kyiv has spent this month laying out truce formats it would accept while awaiting Russia’s position on talks, and the levers it is pressing the EU to use include frozen Russian assets that EU leaders failed to agree on tapping last December.

The pressure Kyiv wants from the EU

Sybiha called it “devastating pressure.” He also wants Russian combatants and their families barred from the EU, maximum visa restrictions, and Russia’s isolation in culture and sports.

His post named three types of ceasefire—energy, food security, and a full ceasefire—without saying whether Kyiv would accept them separately. Earlier this month, he told journalists Ukraine was ready for an energy and Black Sea ceasefire “but only in such a combination.”

New sanctions listings and two more accession clusters

The minister welcomed the EU’s 12 October adoption of new sanctions listings against Russia—the largest single expansion of the bloc’s blacklist. EU ambassadors agreed on the 1,646 names on 7 October. They include 1,569 tied to Russia’s military industry and 77 to its so-called State Duma elections. The listings are separate from the EU’s 22nd sanctions package, which the EU has yet to adopt.

He also welcomed the EU’s “green light” for opening two more clusters in Ukraine’s EU accession talks: Internal Market, and Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth. The formal opening was scheduled for an intergovernmental conference on 13 October.

Front-line briefing and aid requests

Sybiha said he briefed European colleagues on the front-line situation, Russia’s plans, and ways to deprive it of its advantages, and that he passed partners specific requests for aid. He reaffirmed Ukraine’s commitment to reforms.