This is not an invasion

Irish Times:

The United Nations has emailed staff advising them not to refer to the situation in Ukraine as a “war” or “invasion”, in a move to balance political sensitivities as powerful member state Russia cracks down domestically on those who use the words.

Instead, UN staff have been instructed to use the terms “conflict” or “military offensive” to describe Russia’s invasion of its neighbour, which has killed hundreds of civilians and forced two million people to flee the country.

In an email to staff on Monday, the UN communications department instructed employees not to describe the situation as a war and not to add the Ukrainian flag to personal or official social media accounts or websites.

“Some specific examples of language to use/not use at the moment,” read the email which has been seen by the Irish Times.

“[USE] ‘conflict’ or ‘military offensive’ and NOT ‘war’ or ‘invasion’ when referring to the situation in Ukraine”.