The U.N. human rights office reported hundreds more civilian fatalities in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including 21 Russian killings or individual attacks.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said, “A year after the Russian Federation started a full-scale armed offensive on Ukraine, the hostilities continue to impose a heavy toll on children, women and men across the country.”
It found at least 5,987 deaths and injuries between Aug. 1, 2022, and Jan. 31, 2023, a total it said was likely understated because its investigators only validated cases.
Ukrainian-held areas had four times more civilian casualties from indiscriminate explosive munitions than Russian-held territory.
“So-called ‘filtration’ processes” accounted for most of OHCHR’s 133 conflict-related sexual abuse cases in Russian-occupied territory.
Russia’s Permanent Mission to the U.N. Office and other international organizations in Geneva did not immediately react to a request for comment on the results.
Russia insists the invasion was a “special military operation” and denies any crimes.
214 Ukrainians were reported missing or “arbitrary detained” in Russian-occupied territory and 91 in Ukrainian government-held territory. It stated Ukraine apprehended most alleged collaborators.
Ukraine did not respond to the report.
The OHCHR is “gravely worried” about Russian soldiers mistreating, torturing, and abducting youngsters, including five adolescent males who were tortured.
This Thursday, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest order for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of Ukrainian children. The Kremlin denounced it.
Russia has transferred hundreds of Ukrainian youngsters to Russia under a humanitarian initiative to safeguard orphans and abandoned children in the combat zone.
On Friday, another OHCHR investigation criticized Russian and Ukrainian soldiers for mistreating POWs. It alleged the Ukrainian government gave “complete and secret access” to official detention locations.
The organization claimed it had recorded the summary execution of 15 Ukrainian and 25 Russian Prisoners, which “may constitute war crimes,” but that its conclusions were “affected in large part by the degree and nature of access to detention facilities and POWs.”
The U.N. said Soviet POWs “were handled in better way, once confined in transit and permanent areas of internments (sic).” In addition, it stated that Ukrainian officials “actively engaged” in U.N. Prisoner care issues.
The OHCHR urged “all parties” to protect victims and punish criminals in both reports.
Moscow and Kyiv were silent on the OHCHR report on prisoners of war.
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