Number of civilian casualties in Ukraine significantly increased in past 2 months: UN

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - A UN official expressed concern Tuesday over a recent rise in civilian casualties in Ukraine since the start of the war with Russia in 2022.

"The number of civilian casualties in Ukraine significantly increased in December and January compared with previous months, reversing a trend of decreasing civilian casualties throughout 2023," Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, told a UN Security Council meeting on threats to international peace and security.

She added that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) verified that 158 civilians were killed and 483 injured in January.

Russia demanded the Council meeting after 28 people were killed Saturday in an attack on a bakery in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region, with Moscow describing the shelling as a “terrorist attack” by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Since the start of the war in February 2022, the OHCHR has recorded 30,041 civilian casualties with 10,382 killed, including 579 children, and 19,659 people injured, including 1,285 children, DiCarlo said.

"I must underscore once again that attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur, are prohibited under international law. They are unacceptable and must stop immediately," she said.

Underlying that 14.6 million people need humanitarian assistance in Ukraine, DiCarlo said some 6.3 million people have fled the country and remain refugees, mostly across Europe.

DiCarlo said there was a "positive development" last week with the "successful" exchange of hundreds of prisoners of war, both Ukrainian and Russian service members.

"We urge the parties to continue such exchanges," she said.

She reiterated the UN's concern regarding the treatment of the remaining prisoners of war and said the parties must fulfil their obligations under the Geneva Conventions, urging Russia to provide "independent international monitors unfettered access" to prisoners of war.

"In just over two weeks, we will enter the third year of the war. With each passing day, the damage the conflict has done -- and is doing -- to Ukraine but also to global peace and security and international law becomes increasingly clear,” she said.

"Only a solution in line with the UN Charter, international law and UN General Assembly resolutions will achieve a just and lasting peace.”

Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022. The West took Ukraine's side, imposed heavy sanctions on Russia and has been providing unprecedented economic, humanitarian and economic assistance to Kyiv ever since.

On Feb. 24, the conflict will enter its third year.