By KYIV. Dec 7 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Civilian casualties from February 24, when Russia launched a war against Ukraine, to December 4 amounted to 17,181 civilians (a week earlier some 17,023), including 6,702 dead (6,665), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ( OHCHR) on Monday.
"Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles and air strikes," according to the document.
This concerns, for example, Mariupol (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Lysychansk, Popasna, and Sievierodonetsk (Luhansk region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties.
According to confirmed UN figures, 2,626 men, 1,794 women, 212 boys and 174 girls died, while the gender of 38 children and 1,858 adults has not yet been determined.
Among the 10,479 injured were 308 boys and 217 girls, as well as 250 children whose gender has not yet been determined.
Compared to November 27 October, five children were killed and six more were injured.
If earlier the OHCHR report on the number of casualties was published daily, and then only on weekdays, since July it has become a weekly one. In this summary, as in the previous one, the data are given by months.
According to them, March remains the deadliest month for civilians, with a minimum of 3,336 deaths. In April, according to an OHCHR publication, the number of civilian deaths due to the war fell to 703, in May to 473, in June to 374 and in July to 360. In the first five days of the war, from 24 to 28 February, 357 people died, for August some 305, for September some 329, for October some 286, for November some 162 and for the first five days of December some 17, the UN said.
The number of wounded in November also decreased significantly, to 526, while in October there were 787. In September it was 935, which was higher than in August some 895 and slightly lower than in previous months: July some 1,100, June some 1,030, May some 1,016, while in April and March, respectively, some 1,254 and 2,414 people were injured.
In November, 153 people were killed and 487 injured by explosive weapons with a wide area of effect, while mines and explosive remnants of war caused nine deaths and 39 injuries (7% of total casualties), according to the statement.
Government-controlled territories accounted for 84% of the victims in November, according to the UN.
The summary has traditionally said increases from the previous report should not be attributed only to cases after November 27, as during this period the Office verified a number of cases from previous days.
