The UN condemns civilian casualties 500 days after the start of the conflict in Ukraine

The United Nations has condemned the civilian casualties resulting from the Russian attack on Ukraine, which began 500 days ago.

The United Nations Mission for Human Rights in Ukraine stated in a Friday statement that over 9,000 civilians, including 500 children, have been killed since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, although UN officials previously stated that the actual number is likely much higher.

In a statement marking the 500th day since the conflict erupted, Noel Calhoun, Deputy Head of the United Nations Mission for Human Rights in Ukraine, said, "Today, we witness another horrific stage of the war, which continues to inflict devastating losses on Ukrainian civilians."

Observers have noted that the average number of fatalities this year has been lower than in 2022, but it began to rise again in May and June.

On June 27, 13 civilians, including four children, were killed in a rocket attack on Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.

Away from the front line, in the city of Luhansk (west), ten people were killed in an early morning shelling on Thursday, described by the mayor as the largest attack on civilian infrastructure since the invasion began.

According to a statement issued by the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior on Friday morning, 42 people, including three children, were injured in the same attack.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) stated that the attack was the first to occur in a protected area under the World Heritage Convention and caused damage to a historic building.

The cities of Bucha (north) near Kyiv and Mariupol (southeast) became symbols of the atrocities of the conflict, in which Russia has been accused of committing war crimes and genocide.

In the town of Bucha, Agence France-Presse journalists discovered in April a street filled with the bodies of people wearing civilian clothes. Satellite images later revealed that some of the bodies had been lying there since mid-March when the city was under Russian control.

Ukrainian authorities stated that hundreds of people were killed in Bucha by Moscow forces as they were withdrawing.



AFP