Civilian death toll measured by UN in Ukraine rises above 1,100, but likely much higher

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) - The number of civilians killed in Ukraine since Russia’s war on it began has climbed to 1,119, but is likely much higher, the UN said Sunday, as those fleeing the war have swelled to over 3.8 million.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that from Feb. 24, it had recorded 2,909 civilian casualties in the country: 1,119 killed – including 52 children – and 1,790 injured.

"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, and many reports are still pending corroboration," said the human rights office.

It cited, for example, the Ukraine Prosecutor General's Office saying that as of Sunday, 139 children had been killed and at least 205 injured since the war began.

Most of the civilian casualties were caused by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and airstrikes.

The UN rights office said it had been unable to get information from places such as Mariupol and Volnovakha (in the Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Popasna, and Rubizhne (Luhansk region), and Trostianets (Sumy region).

It said it had had heard of "numerous civilian casualties" in those locations.

The toll from cities such as the southeastern port of Mariupol, which Russia has surrounded and bombarded since Feb. 24, was not included in the UN statistics.

- Poland takes in more than 2.2 million refugees

People continue streaming out of Ukraine, and the UN refugee agency said that by Saturday, over 3.82 million had fled the fighting, with Poland taking in nearly 2.27 million of them.

Romania has taken in almost 587,000 people while more than 381,000 have passed through Moldova, nearly 350,000 went to Hungary, and more than 272,000 have gone to Slovakia.

Russia has also received more than 271,000 refugees.

More than 5,000 civilians had been evacuated in 24 hours in Ukraine, the country's deputy prime minister said Saturday.

Iryna Vereshchuk, also minister for reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories, said on Instagram that 5,208 civilians, mainly from the besieged city of Mariupol, have been evacuated to safe areas through humanitarian aid corridors.

As of Saturday, 10 humanitarian corridors have been designated to evacuate residents from settlements affected by Russia’s war, said a presidential office statement.

In the eastern Donetsk region, the evacuation of people on private transport was planned from Mariupol to the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, it said.