Fighting in Ukraine Has Killed Over 840 Since Mid-January, U.N. Says

NICK CUMMING-BRUCE

2 March 2015

GENEVA — The United Nations said on Monday that a sharp escalation in the fighting in eastern Ukraine from mid-January to the middle of last month had left at least 842 people dead and over 3,400 wounded, with hundreds missing and many buried without their deaths being recorded.

Ivan Simonovic, the United Nations assistant secretary general, told reporters here that more than 6,000 people had been killed since the fighting started in April.

The casualty figures were in a United Nations report issued on Mondaythat also said an influx of troops and heavy weapons from Russia had intensified the conflict in Ukraine’s east.

“Credible reports indicate a continuing influx of heavy and sophisticated weaponry to armed groups in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as foreign fighters, including from the Russian Federation,” the United Nations said, reporting on developments over two months to mid-February.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is monitoring developments in Ukraine, had confirmed the inflow of troops and heavy weaponry from Russia, Mr. Simonovic said.

“This has fueled the escalation of the conflict and new offensives by armed groups, undermining the potential for peace as armed groups extend their areas of control,” the report said. “This has resulted in further and significant increases in civilian and military casualties.”

The report was issued as Secretary of State John Kerry prepared to meetwith his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, in Switzerland to discuss the crisis in Ukraine and amid fears that Russian-backed rebels, after taking control of the Debaltseve area, may now push on to attack the port city of Mariupol.

Mr. Simonovic warned that such an offensive would most likely result in heavy casualties and further escalation and “internationalization” of the conflict.

Mr. Simonovic cited a rocket attack on Mariupol at the end of January that killed 31 people as an example of the growing use of heavy weapons by all sides and indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas.

The deliberate targeting of civilian areas could amount to a war crime, he said.

The report also drew attention to the plight of civilians in areas of conflict, saying that attempted evacuations in government-controlled areas had apparently been targeted by shelling. But travel restrictions imposed by the government in Kiev had also made it harder for civilians to escape conflict areas, the United Nations said.

More than 400 civilians continue to be held prisoner by pro-Russian armed groups, the United Nations monitors reported, noting that an “all for all” prisoner exchange included in the cease-fire agreement signed last month in Minsk, Belarus, had not been fully enacted. The report also cited “a pattern of enforced disappearances, secret detention and ill treatment by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.”

Human rights conditions in Crimea have also deteriorated, the United Nations said, citing political pressure and intimidation directed against opponents of the authorities in control of the territory.

The death of a Ukrainian news photographer in shelling over the weekend provided more evidence of the risks facing journalists in Ukraine, where 10 have died since the start of the year, Mr. Simonovic said.

Correction: March 2, 2015
An earlier version of this article misstated the number of people injured in Ukraine from mid-January to the middle of last month. It was more than 3,400, not 13,400.

Featured Image: Ukraine Crisis in Map. Copyright: Ministry of Defense of Ukraine 

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