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The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Wednesday that a total of 7,964 civilian casualties have been recorded since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
That tally includes 3,778 killed and 4,186 injured.
OVER 3,700 CIVILIANS HAVE BEEN KILLED IN UKRAINE SINCE RUSSIA’S INVASION BEGAN: UN
In the Donetsk and Lunhansk regions alone, there have been 2,070 people killed and 2,256 injured.
The office noted that most civilian casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems and missile and airstrikes.
It also said it believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, due to delayed and pending information and reports.
Russians walk along the road toward the besieged Azovstal steel plant during an evacuation in Mariupol, in territory under the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, May 18, 2022.
(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Thus far, 6,312,255 refugees have fled Ukraine since the assault began on Feb. 24.
That total is around 14% of the country’s pre-war population of 44 million.
The majority of the refugees displaced by the war are women and children, marking Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War Two.
A Russian soldier, Sgt. Vadim Shyshimarin, pleaded guilty to war crimes charges on Wednesday.
RUSSIA’S WAR IS NOT AGAINST UKRAINE BUT NATO, CHECHEN LEADER CLAIMS
Also on Wednesday, Russia said its military destroyed several artillery pieces that the U.S. delivered to Ukraine, although, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov’s claims could not be independently verified.
Konashenkov also said almost 1,000 troops left Mariupol’s last stronghold this week.
Mariupol’s defenders clung to the steel mill for months; its full capture would give Russia an unbroken land bridge to the Crimean Peninsula.
Mariupol was a Russian target from the beginning.
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Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman said the Russian military was holding more than 3,000 civilians from Mariupol at another former penal colony in the Donetsk region.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
