UN says it recorded 1,276, civilian deaths in Ukraine

GENEVA (AA) – Five weeks after the Russian military operation in Ukraine began, the number of civilian deaths as counted by UN officials till Friday stood at 1,276, with 1,981 wounded, although the toll is much higher as the number of people fleeing climbed to 4,102,876.

UN agencies said feeding residents in besieged areas is also difficult due to the destruction of so much infrastructure in Ukraine since the war began Feb. 24

The Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OCHCR) said most civilian casualties recorded were caused by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems and missile and airstrikes.

“OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed,” said the rights office, citing Mariupol and Volnovakha in the Donetsk region, Izium in the Kharkiv region, Popasna in the Luhansk region and Irpin in the Kyiv region.

Numerous casualties

There are “allegations of numerous civilian casualties in those cities,” it said.

Tomson Phiri from the World Food Program (WFP) said at a UN news conference in Geneva that in Lviv in western Ukraine his agency launched cash assistance for vulnerable refugees and families who hosted them.

He said one of the challenges was that many humanitarian partners were not able to work in besieged areas.