As the battle in Ukraine reached its 500th day and there was no sign of an end in sight, the United Nations denounced the harm that Russia’s war has caused to civilians.
According to a statement released on Friday by the UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), more than 9,000 civilians have died since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, including 500 children. However, UN representatives have previously stated that the actual death toll is likely to be substantially higher.
Civilian deaths in the Ukraine conflict
In a statement honoring the 500th day since the invasion, Noel Calhoun, the deputy head of HRMMU, remarked, “Today we mark another grim milestone in the war that continues to exact a horrific toll on Ukraine’s civilians.”
Although the casualty rates were generally lower this year than they were in 2022, the monitors noticed that the rate started to rise once more in May and June. When a missile struck Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine on June 27, 13 civilians—four of them were children—were killed.
- UN condemns Ukraine’s ongoing war, highlighting civilian suffering.
- Casualty rates rise in May-June due to a missile strike in Ukraine.
- Russia uses airstrikes against Ukraine, targeting infrastructure, water, and electricity.
The mayor of Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, described an early-Thursday bombing there as the largest strike on civilian infrastructure since the invasion’s start, and it left at least five people dead and another 37 injured. This was far from the battle lines.
According to UNESCO, that attack destroyed a historic building and was the first to occur in a location covered by the World Heritage Convention.
Russia frequently launches airstrikes against Ukraine, including lethal and indiscriminate artillery and missile fire. Infrastructural targets and supply routes were also hit, depriving residents of water and electricity.
Following accounts and photographs of mass killings there that horrified the world and gave rise to accusations of war crimes and even genocide, the cities of Bucha and Mariupol became bywords for Russian atrocities last year. In April, AFP photographers saw a single street lined with corpses dressed in civilian clothing in the hitherto tranquil commuter town of Bucha.
Romanian authorities allege that people were slain in Bucha, although satellite images reveal that the city has been under Russian control since mid-March.
