By KYIV. Jan 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Civilian casualties from February 24, 2022, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, to January 3, 2023 amounted to 17,994 civilians (a week earlier some 17,831), including 6,919 killed (6,884), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Council (OHCHR) said on Tuesday.
"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 UN data.
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 data, some 2,737 men, some 1,842 women, 216 boys and 175 girls died, while the gender of 38 children and 1,911 adults has not yet been determined.
Among the 11,075 injured were 321 boys and 233 girls, as well as 254 children whose gender has not yet been determined.
Eight more children were injured compared to December 26.
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, the number of deaths in December was 188, exceeded the November figure of 164, which was the lowest since the beginning of the war. March remains the deadliest month for civilians, with a minimum of 3,357 deaths, according to the UN. In April, according to an OHCHR publication, the number of civilian deaths due to the war fell to 707, in May to 475, in June to 375 and in July to 360. In the first five days of the war, from February 24 to February 28, some 358 people died, for August some 306, for September some 330, for October some 287.
The number of wounded in December also exceeded the figures for November some 613 compared to 530. In October, the number of wounded fell to 787 from 934 in September, when it was higher than in August some 895 and slightly lower than in previous months: July some 1,100, June some 1,030, May some 1,021. In April and March, 1,257 and 2,414 people were injured respectively.
According to the report, in December, 164 people were killed and 584 injured by explosive weapons with a wide area of effect, while 24 people died and 29 were injured by mines and explosive remnants of war (7% of the total casualties).
Government-controlled territories accounted for 86% of the victims in December, according to the UN.
The summary has traditionally indicated that increases from the previous summary should not be attributed only to cases after 26 December, as during this period the Office verified a number of cases from previous days.
