Residents at the site of a residential building hit by a Russian missile in Lviv, Ukraine, on July 6, 2023 [Roman Baluk/Reuters]
Metropolis Desk-
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, more than 9,000 civilians—including 500 children—have died, according to the United Nations, which condemned the toll as the war in Ukraine approached its 500th day.
In a statement on Friday, the UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) announced that it “deplored the horrendous civilian cost of the war in Ukraine” and was able to confirm that 9,000 civilians have been murdered thus far in the conflict. The mission issued a warning that the number of deaths that have been reported is almost certainly much greater.
Noel Calhoun, the deputy head of HRMMU, stated in a statement to commemorate the 500th day since the invasion began, “Today we mark another tragic milestone in the war that continues to exact a horrific toll on Ukraine’s civilians.
The monitors highlighted that although the average number of casualties in Ukraine this year has been lower than in 2022, the number started to rise once more in May and June.
In a rocket attack on Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine on June 27, 13 civilians—including four children—were murdered.
The UN monitoring mission in Ukraine also reported that, in comparison to the previous eight years of violence in eastern Ukraine, when Russian-backed separatists captured Crimea and other regions, three times as many civilians were murdered in the last 500 days.
Russia regularly launches airstrikes against Ukraine, killing many civilians in the process with indiscriminate artillery and missile fire. Additionally, civilian supply and infrastructure have been assaulted by Russia, depriving people of water and electricity.
Last year, after tales and pictures of massacres there horrified the world and sparked accusations of war crimes and even genocide, the cities of Bucha and Mariupol came to symbolize Russian horrors.
The US declared on Friday that it would arm Ukrainian forces with cluster munitions, a move that has drawn criticism from human rights organizations due to the risks that using such weapons poses to civilians.
Cluster bombs scatter a high number of bomblets over a wide area, and because some bomblets fail to detonate, there is a significant risk to civilians both during combat and for a long time afterward.
The 2008 UN Convention on Cluster Munitions was signed by more than 120 nations to outlaw their use.
Source- Al Jazeera
