Nearly 2,000 Ukrainian civilians killed since invasion began, UN says

The United Nations said nearly 2,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since Russia’s invasion of the country began six weeks ago, though it said the actual figure was likely “considerably higher.”

In a statement on Thursday, the UN’s Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) said it has recorded over 4,521 civilian casualties in the country, including 1,932 deaths and 2,589 injuries. 

Among the 1,932 civilians killed during the invasion, 485 are tallied as men, 313 are women and 157 are children. The sex of about 1,000 dead adults has not been determined.

The agency said that Donetsk and Luhansk regions saw the most casualties as officials reported 1,994 casualties — 698 killed and 1,296 injured — in the two regions. 

The agency also noted that most of the casualties were caused by explosive weapons used by Russian forces, such as shelling from heavy artillery, missiles and airstrikes. 

“OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration,” OHCHR said in a statement. 

“This concerns, for example, Mariupol (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Popasna (Luhansk region), and Borodianka (Kyiv region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties,” the agency added. “These figures are being further corroborated and are not included in the above statistics.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, has forced some 4.7 million refugees to flee the country due to ongoing fighting, and millions more to relocate within the country.

Ukrainian authorities have released far higher estimate of civilian casualties, with Mariupol’s major this week saying that more than 10,000 civilians were killed in Russian attacks on the city.