Civilian death toll in Ukraine reaches 10,000, UN says
- 21 November, 04:27
More than 10,000 civilians have been killed and 18,500 others have been injured in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-fledged invasion of the country in February last year, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said on Tuesday.
The UN human rights mission in Ukraine, which has dozens of monitors in the country, said 560 children are among the killed civilians. The organization stressed that the civilian death toll was expected to be “significantly higher” than the official tally, given the challenges and time required for verification.
“Ten thousand civilian deaths is a grim milestone for Ukraine,” said the monitoring mission’s director Danielle Bell. “The Russian Federation's war against Ukraine, now entering into its 21st month, risks evolving into a protracted conflict, with the severe human cost being painful to fathom,” she noted.
Older people are also disproportionately represented among civilian casualties in Ukraine due to the difficulties associated with their relocation to safer places.
In her words, the vast majority of civilian deaths were caused by explosive weapons with wide area effect such as artillery shells and rockets, cluster munitions, missiles, and loitering munitions. The head of the UN mission noted the Russian army’s use of long-range missiles, which is testified by a significant number of civilian casualties occurring far beyond the frontlines.
“Nearly half of civilian casualties in the last three months have occurred far away from the frontlines. As a result, no place in Ukraine is completely safe,” Bell warned.
