More than 10,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022 according to the UN.
At the same time, almost half of the deaths in Ukraine that have been recorded in recent months have occurred far from the front lines with Russian forces, as the UN Human Rights Office reported today.
The UN mission in Ukraine, which has deployed dozens of observers across the country, said it expected the actual toll to be “much higher” than official sources announced, as verification efforts continued.
This includes events that occurred during the first months of the invasion, such as the battle for control of Mariupol, where residents reported a very high number of civilian casualties.
“Ten thousand civilian dead is a grisly milestone for Ukraine,” commented Danielle Bell, the head of the observer mission. “The Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine, now entering its 21st month, risks devolving into a protracted conflict and heavy human casualties will be difficult to investigate,” he added.
Most deaths are caused by explosive weapons, such as mortars, rockets and cluster munitions. Half of the deaths recorded in the past three months occurred far from the front lines, the UN noted, attributing this to the use of long-range rockets by Russian forces and the delayed detonation of abandoned weapons. Russia denies targeting civilians.
The article Over 10,000 civilians have been killed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine was published on Fourals.com.