NEW YORK: The United Nations in a new report on Tuesday said that intensified Russia’s missile and drone attacks across Ukraine increased civilian casualties in December.
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said that in recent weeks over 100 civilians killed and nearly 500 injured.
It added there was a 26.5 percent increase in civilian casualties last month from 468 in November to 592 in December. It said, the increase was likely higher with some reports still pending for verification.
Danielle Bell who heads the UN’s monitoring mission said that civilian casualties had been decreasing in 2023 but they increased in late December and early January because of recent attacks.
The UN mission said it is verifying reports about the recent Russian missile and drone attacks that started targeting populated areas across Ukraine killing 86 civilians and injured 416 others.
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Bell went on to say that these attacks caused death and destruction on Ukraine’s civilians who have endured losses from Russia’s full-scale war in past two years.
The UN monitoring mission in the report said the highest number of casualties occurred during attacks on December 29 and January 2.
The UN humanitarian office’s operations director, Edem Wosornu, told the UN Security Council last Wednesday that since Russia started war on Ukraine on February 24, 2022, more than 10,200, including 575 children have been killed, while the number of injured is over 19,300.
