Tannuka Juneja
The United Nations Rights Office said on Friday that it had confirmed 1,081 civilian deaths and 1,707 injuries in Ukraine since the start of the Russian attack on February 24, adding that the exact number is likely to be higher.
The statement said, UN human rights’ monitors are working to verify reports of additional deaths at the sites of violent clashes in Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, where the city of Mariupol is located.
“Hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions will have problems knowing where to sleep in the medium or long term,” said Karolina Lindholm Schilling, Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The effects will be felt for “years, even decades”, she said.
Inside Ukraine, more than 6.5 million people are displaced. In addition, at least 3.7 million people have been forced to cross international borders and flee the country. “These numbers are increasing every day. The seriousness of the situation cannot be overemphasised,” she added.
Faced with movements, families and communities will need protection, shelter, humanitarian aid and access to basic services. These include needs in health, education and social protection for years, even decades.
“The effects of this war are devastating and far-reaching,” Lindholm insisted, noting that “the most effective form of humanitarian aid would be to end this war”.
The United Nations Human Rights Office also has information on the arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance of 22 Ukrainian officials in Russia-controlled areas, 13 of whom have been released; 15 journalists and human rights activists were also detained, and half have been released. Several journalists have been killed.
The city of Mariupol, surrounded by Russian forces, is exhausting its last reserves of food and water. No humanitarian aid has been allowed into the town. The only way to reach Mariupol is to call in humanitarian convoys which, so far, have failed to get through. Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Sumy are partially surrounded, but can be reached by commercial transport.
