UN: 4,707 people killed since beginning of conflict in eastern Ukraine
Russian tank near the village of Razsypnoe in eastern Ukraine. Photo: svoboda.org
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine in its eighth monthly report said that 4,707 people were killed since the beginning of the conflict in eastern Ukraine in mid-April, and 10,322 people were injured during the same period.
The report, which was presented in Kyiv on December 15 by the Vice Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović, says that at least 1,357 people have been killed since the announcement of the armistice on September 5.
The report said that the living conditions of 5.2 million inhabitants living in the region covered by the conflict have worsened with the onset of winter and the complete collapse of the local infrastructure, leading to a lack of water and heating in homes.
However, the report’s authors are cautious as to who is responsible for the humanitarian crisis – the government in Kyiv or pro-Russian separatists.
“The government’s efforts to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the restoration of law and order in the conflict zone have been accompanied by arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances of people suspected of “separatism and terrorism,” the report says.
“Most of these human rights violations appear to have been committed by volunteer battalions or the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU),” says the report according to the Russian service of Radio Liberty.
