UN rights office confirms 2,909 casualties in Ukraine News
© WikiMedia Commons (State Emergency Service of Ukraine)
UN rights office confirms 2,909 casualties in Ukraine

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Sunday confirmed that there have been 2,909 civilian casualties in Ukraine since Russia invaded the country on February 24. Of the 2,909 caught in the crossfire, 1,119 have been killed and 1,790 injured.

The numbers reflect casualties that occurred between February 24 and March 26. According to the report, most of the civilian casualties recorded resulted from “the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes.”

The report provides details of the casualties broken down by region, gender, and age. There have been 1,281 casualties in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with 995 casualties occurring on government-controlled territory and 286 on territory controlled by the self-proclaimed “republics.” In other regions like the capital city of Kyiv, Odesa, and Sumy there have been 1,628 casualties. 

Among the 1,119 who have been killed, there were 224 men, 168 women, 15 girls, and 32 boys. Among the 1,790 injured, there were 201 men, 150 women, 32 girls, and 24 boys. OHCHR also noted that the report of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine reported 143 children have been killed and 216 injured. Prosecutor General of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova said that 12 journalists have been killed and 10 injured.

OHCHR believes that the real casualty numbers are considerably higher, as information reports from certain regions including Mariupol and Volnovakha facing intense hostilities still await corroboration.

The extent of casualties has generated accusations of war crimes against Russia. According to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “a review of available information from public and intelligence sources” has revealed that Russia has committed war crimes. Head of Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, in a statement Friday said:

The extent of civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian objects strongly suggests that the principles of distinction, of proportionality, the rule on feasible precautions and the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks have been violated . . . [W]e are also looking into allegations of indiscriminate shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces in Donetsk and in other territory controlled by the self-proclaimed ‘republics’. These attacks cause immeasurable human suffering and may amount to war crimes, and they must stop.