Russia’s intense attacks on Ukraine has sharply increased civilian casualties in December, UN says
UNITED NATIONS — Russia’s intensive missile and drone attacks in Ukraine in recent weeks have sharply increased the number of civilian casualties in December, with more than 100 dead and nearly 500 injured, the United Nations said in a new report on Tuesday.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said civilian casualties rose 26.5% last month – from 468 in November to 592 in December. Because some reports are still pending verification, the increase was likely larger.
Danielle Bell, head of the UN Monitoring Mission. said: “Civilian casualties had been steadily declining in 2023, but the wave of attacks in late December and early January interrupted that trend with violence.”
The UN mission said it is verifying reports of recent intense Russian missile and drone attacks that began hitting populated areas in Ukraine on December 29 and continued into early January, killing 86 civilians and wounding 416 others.
“These attacks are wreaking havoc on Ukrainian civilians, who have been suffering major losses for nearly two years as a result of Russia’s massive invasion,” Bell said.
The UN monitoring mission said the highest number of casualties occurred during attacks on December 29 and January 2, amid falling winter temperatures. On January 4, it said, Russian missiles struck the small town of Pokrovsk and the nearby village of Rivne, close to the front line, burying two families – six adults and five children – in the rubble of their homes. Some bodies have still not been found, the report said.
In another attack on January 6, the blast wave from a Russian missile strike in Novomoskovsk injured 31 civilians, including eight passengers in a minibus that was destroyed during the morning commute, the UN said.
The confirmed number of civilian casualties since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022 is more than 10,200, including 575 children, and the number of injured is more than 19,300, Edem Wosornu, director of operations at the UN humanitarian agency, recently told the UN Security Council. Wednesday.
Neither Moscow nor Kiev provide current data on military losses, and both are doing their best to increase losses on the other side as the nearly two-year war drags on with no sign of peace talks to end the conflict.