East Ukraine town almost ‘completely destroyed’ by shelling: UN
Geneva, Mar 3 (EFE).- A town in eastern Ukraine has been almost “completely destroyed” by shelling while Russian military actions against Ukrainian cities including the capital Kyiv have intensified, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet said Thursday.
Bachelet told a Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had opened a dangerous new chapter in world history.
“The town of Volnovakha in Donetsk region has been almost completely destroyed by shelling, and its remaining residents have been hiding in basements,” she said.
“Military operations are escalating further as we speak, with military strikes on and near large cities, including Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Lysychansk, Sievierodonetsk, Sumy, Mariupol and Zhytomyr, and the capital, Kyiv.”
Her UN office recorded 752 civilian casualties, including 227 killed, among them 15 children, she said as of Tuesday, adding that the actual toll was likely to be far higher.
Ukrainian emergency services on Thursday claimed 2,000 civilians had been killed during Russia’s military invasion, although such claims have not been independently verified.
“Most civilian casualties were caused by the use of heavy artillery, multi-launch rocket systems and air strikes in populated areas, with concerning reports of use of cluster munitions striking civilian targets.”
Schools, hospitals and kindergartens were among the civilian buildings damaged by military attacks, she added .
The conflict resulting from Russia’s military invasion of neighboring Ukraine had forced 2 million people to flee their homes, of whom over a million have fled to neighboring counties, according to the UN’s refugee agency. EFE
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