According to the UN monitoring mission, from December 1 to February 29, Russian occupiers executed at least 32 captured Ukrainian military personnel. There were also 1,804 civilian casualties, including 429 deaths.
The UN monitoring mission released its thirty-eighth report on the human rights situation in Ukraine for the period from December 1, 2023 to February 29, 2024. The corresponding document was published on the official website of the organization.
The report states that Russian military aggression and occupation of Ukrainian territories have led to serious violations of international law, human rights and humanitarian law, which will have long-term consequences for Ukraine and Ukrainians.
As the authors of the report note, shelling of the territory of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces in December 2023 and January 2024 led to a sharp increase in the number of civilian casualties compared to previous months.
Thus, the UN recorded 1,804 casualties among civilians in Ukraine during the specified period, 712 of whom were injured as a result of shelling. Documenting that Russian aggression in Ukraine has killed at least 429 civilians (232 men, 181 women, 10 boys and 6 girls) and injured 1,375 (717 men, 576 women, 50 boys and 32 girls).
Civilian casualties in Ukraine
According to the organization, Kharkov suffered the most, as it was subjected to numerous attacks by the Russian Armed Forces. In addition, serious damage was caused to civilians in areas around Kupyansk in the Kharkov region, Avdeevka, Donetsk region and Kherson. It is reported that several cities and towns along the front line were virtually destroyed.
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“Shelling and attacks using multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) on front-line areas accounted for 58 percent of the total civilian casualties confirmed during the reporting period,” the report says.
As noted by the UN, the vast majority of casualties were caused by the use of explosives with a wide area of effect in populated areas. A disproportionate share of the dead and wounded were elderly people, especially in areas close to the front line.
Statistics of victims from the use of different types of weapons
The UN mission also recorded damage or destruction to 106 educational institutions and 28 medical facilities.
In addition, the UN conducted interviews with 60 Ukrainian men who were recently released from Russian captivity, where they spent from several weeks to almost two years.
“Their stories confirmed previously recorded facts of widespread torture, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian captivity, as well as conditions of detention that do not comply with international law,” the authors of the report emphasized.
The report states that during the period mentioned, the UN received reports of 12 separate incidents in which at least 32 recently captured Ukrainian prisoners of war were executed.
In total, between April 14, 2014 and February 29, 2024, the UN recorded 14,085 war-related civilian deaths. Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Armed Forces on February 24, 2022, at least 10,675 civilian deaths have been recorded.
Statistics of civilian casualties during a full-scale war
The UN also records pressure from the occupation authorities in the occupied areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on men in order to force them to enroll in the ranks of the Russian armed forces and sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense.
In addition, according to the organization, the occupiers put pressure on residents of the occupied territories in order to force them to obtain Russian citizenship and passports, both directly, through threats and intimidation, and indirectly. Some of the people interviewed by representatives of the UN mission spoke about restrictions on access to government services, healthcare and employment for people without a Russian passport.
Let us remind you that Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov NGU brigade, who returned from Russian captivity, spoke about the inaction of the Red Cross (RC) organization regarding the exchange of prisoners of war.
It was also reported that in the territories of the Kharkov region liberated from occupation, 28 places where torture was carried out were identified, which represents a record number throughout Ukraine at the moment.
