UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations has reported that more than 9,000 civilians, including more than 500 children, have died since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, or 500 days ago.
At the same time, the United States is moving to supply cluster weapons to help the military of the Eastern European nation fight against the entrenched forces of Moscow.
The U.N. also issued a warning, stating that the actual death toll might be significantly greater than what they have been able to establish. According to the U.N., civilian fatalities rose in May and June after a slight reduction in the year’s first four months. This weekend will mark 500 days since the start of the conflict.
Noel Calhoun, the deputy director of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), said, “Today we commemorate another terrible milestone in the war that continues to exact a horrific toll on civilians in Ukraine. According to the HRMMU, overall monthly casualties reduced earlier this year compared to 2022, but the average number increased once more in May and June, with the most lethal two weeks since conflicts started.
A recent attack that left 13 dead on June 27 evening was a missile strike on a crowded shopping district in the eastern city of Kramatorsk. The most recent report on civilian casualties in Ukraine, released by the U.N. Human Rights Office, OHCHR, includes details about the deaths of civilians and covers the time from the start of the war until June 30, 2023. In total, 9,177 civilian fatalities and 15,993 civilian injuries totaled 25,170.
61% of those in this group whose sex was known were men, and 39% were women. Boys made up over 57% of the casualties among youngsters whose sex was known, while girls made up 42.8%. 22 civilian deaths in Sevastopol and the Crimean Peninsula under Russian control were also reported to OHCHR. Sixteen people were hurt, including two infants and 14 adults whose sex is unclear, while five men and one woman were slain.
However, IAEA experts stationed at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in southern Ukraine have not seen any overt signs of explosives or mines there, according to Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi on Wednesday. Since the beginning of the conflict, Russia has controlled Europe’s largest nuclear reactor, and both sides have accused the other of attacking the facility.
The plant is situated on the front lines of the conflict, and the IAEA previously stated that it was aware of claims that mines and other explosives had been planted there and nearby. Our experts could access the site more fully once we made some queries. According to Grossi, they haven’t yet encountered any mines or explosives, but they still require further access, including to the turbine halls’ interiors and the rooftops of reactor units 3 and 4. He expressed optimism that access would be allowed shortly.
In recent days and weeks, the specialists have examined specific plant areas and continued their routine site walk-downs. They were “also able to check a wider section of the perimeter of the ZNPP’s large cooling pond than previously” on Wednesday, the IAEA stated. According to American media reports, the Biden administration is anticipated to make the contentious announcement on Friday that the United States will supply Ukraine with cluster munitions.
According to sources from American authorities, President Joe Biden recently approved a presidential waiver authorizing the shipment of the weapons. DPICMs, or dual-purpose improved conventional munitions, are surface-to-surface warheads that explode and scatter numerous small bombs or munitions over large areas, causing more extensive destruction than single rounds. The rounds may have charges that can cut through armored cars, shatter, or splinter and pose a greater risk to people.
Due to fears that unexploded bomblets, or duds, could detonate after a fight and harm or kill innocent civilians, human rights organizations oppose their usage. Russia’s Ambassador to Belarus, Boris Gryzlov, responded to the U.S. action by calling it “a move of desperation” given that Kyiv’s counteroffensive did not go as planned.
The much-publicized counteroffensive of the Ukrainian military forces did not proceed as planned. Therefore, the ‘hawks’ in the West have realized this and are trying to give it at least some momentum. Gryzlov told the Russian state news outlet TASS that the action showed desperation. He asserted that the U.S. has been debating the possibility of providing contentious weapons to Ukraine since the spring.
If the U.S. decides to proceed with the move, it would once again prove that “neither Washington nor its NATO allies want peace, and they will stop at literally nothing in their bid to achieve the elusive goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia,” he added. —APP
