UN: 224 Civilians Killed in Three Weeks in Eastern Ukraine
GENEVA – The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said on Tuesday that the conflict in eastern Ukraine has caused the death of 224 civilians in less than three weeks.
“Bus stops and public transport, marketplaces, schools and kindergartens, hospitals and residential areas have become battlegrounds in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine,” Zeid said in a statement.
“The death toll now exceeds 5,358, and another 12,235 have been wounded since mid-April last year. In just the three weeks leading up to February 1, at least 224 civilians have been killed and 545 wounded. Any further escalation will prove catastrophic for the 5.2 million people living in the midst of the eastern Ukraine conflict,” he added.
The High Commissioner explained that there has been shelling in residential areas located in territories under the control of either government forces loyal to Kyiv or pro-Russian separatist groups.
Zeid also urged both sides and all those who have influence in the region to do everything necessary to ensure full compliance with the peace deal signed in September 2014 in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk.
Zeid went on to express concern over the recent violence taking place in Crimea, especially the attacks against the Tatar minority.
More than 2,000 people have been displaced from Crimea to other Ukrainian areas since the pro-Russian forces seized the autonomous peninsula and established Russian legislation.