In this address to the Human Rights Council, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk welcomes diplomatic movement toward a ceasefire in Ukraine but draws a firm line: any halt in fighting is only meaningful if it opens the way to a peace built on human rights, accountability, and the UN Charter. He stresses that the war’s human cost remains intolerable, noting that most civilian casualties are Ukrainian and largely the result of Russian attacks, including recurrent strikes with missiles and drones against cities and critical infrastructure. Türk urges strict compliance with international humanitarian law—distinction, proportionality, and precautions—and calls for immediate steps that put people first: stop unlawful attacks on civilians and civilian objects; end torture and other ill-treatment, including against prisoners of war; ensure humane conditions of detention; and allow independent monitoring. He presses for full and humane exchanges of prisoners of war and the release of unlawfully detained Ukrainian civilians as confidence-building measures that are also legal obligations. A just settlement, he argues, must include credible pathways to truth, justice and reparations for victims—through national courts, international mechanisms, and sustained support services for survivors. Beyond legal remedies, he underscores the need to reduce current harm—clearing mines and unexploded ordnance, protecting essential services, and enabling humanitarian access—while defending civic space and the work of human rights defenders who help protect communities under strain. Türk situates Ukraine within a wider defense of the rules-based order, warning that any deal that trades away rights, accountability, or Ukraine’s agency would be unstable and unjust. The end state he sketches is clear: a comprehensive ceasefire that is respected in practice; accountability for serious violations; concrete support for victims; and a political process anchored in the rights, needs, and aspirations of the Ukrainian people. Only such a framework, he concludes, can convert battlefield silence into durable peace.