Monday, March 2, 2015

More than 6,000 killed in Ukraine war, UN reports

First entry: 2 March 2015
More than 6,000 killed in Ukraine war, UN reports
More than 6,000 people have been killed since eastern Ukraine's separatist insurgency erupted last April, the UN said.
The UN's ninth report on the conflict in eastern Ukraine painted a picture of "merciless devastation of civilian lives and infrastructure," said the organization's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, on Monday.
According to the report, hundreds of civilians and military personnel have been killed in the last few weeks alone, following an escalation of violence near the Donetsk airport and the town of Debaltseve and despite a European-brokered ceasefire agreement signed last month in Minsk.
The UN human rights chief urged all sides to "halt the indiscriminate shelling and other hostilities that have created a dreadful situation for civilians" and respect the Minsk agreement.
The report also cited "credible allegations of arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances, committed mostly by the armed groups but in some instances also by the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies," as well as cases of summary executions by the rebels.
Western countries and Kyiv have repeatedly accused Moscow of helping the rebel offensive by sending troops and military supplies over the border, charges Russia has long denied.
The UN on Monday, however, said "credible reports indicate a continuing flow of heavy weaponry and foreign fighters" from Russia to the separatists since December.
"This has sustained and enhanced the capacity of armed groups of the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk People's Republic' and 'Luhansk People's Republic' to resist government armed forces and to launch new offensives in some areas, including around the Donetsk airport, Mariupol and Debaltseve," it said.
Source: DW

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