Real human costs of Russian aggression in Ukraine still uncounted, UN says

As a result of the Russian occupation, about 1.5 million of Donbas residents are at risk of hunger reported the United Nations press service in April 2016.

2016/09/21 - 01:00 • More, Ukraine, War in the Donbas

Edited by: A. N.

At a minimum, 9640 people have been killed and 22,431 wounded as a result of military actions in eastern Ukraine, according to the United Nations monitoring mission’s latest quarterly report. But the document notes that the indirect costs of the clashes there on the civilian population remains “unknown.”

The report which includes losses both among Ukrainian defenders and Moscow’s military forces, was released in Geneva on September 15, is available online and is discussed in detail.

Ruins of Iversky Monastery after shelling near Donetsk International Airport. The Donbas, Ukraine. 18 May 2015 (Image: Mstyslav Chernov)
Child soldiers in the Russian hybrid army occupying the Donbas, Ukraine (Image: charter97.org)
Donbas_IPD_Ukraine
Devastation in the Donbas, Ukraine brought by the Russian military aggression (Image: znak.com)
For Putin, Donbas destroyed as a result of his military invasion and occupation is only a mechanism to exert pressure on Ukraine. (Image: UNIAN)
Russia is trying to freeze the war in the Donbas and make it into a second depressive Transdniestria. (Image: UNIAN)
Avdiyivka ruins, Donbas
Russian occupation force entering a captured town in the Donbas, Ukraine in April 2014 (Image: kommersant.ru)
Russia's 5th Tank Brigade in Donbas (InformNapalm)
Devastation of Russian military aggression in the Donbas. Makeyevka, Ukraine. (Image: Ilya Filimonov, Segodnya.ua)
Families with children in a bomb shelter in Donetsk hiding from artillery shelling as result of the Russian military aggression in the Donbas, Ukraine (Image: A. Umanets / Segodnya.ua)
Graves in the Iver Cemetery in Donetsk near the airport destroyed by artillery fire as a result of the Russian military aggression in the Donbas, Ukraine. December 2014 (Image: social media)
Devastation in the Donbas brought by the Russian military aggression in Ukraine. This picture taken on April 23, 2015 shows a bus stop and a church damaged by artillery shelling, in the village of Peski near Donetsk. (Image: Oleksandr Ratushniak / AFP)
Russia's military aggression in the Donbas devastated and empoverished Ukrainian territories under the Russian occupation (Image: Novosti Segodnia)
Some of the devastation in the Donbas after product of Putin's military aggression into peaceful Ukraine. (Image: Slavyansk Delovoy)
A funeral for unidentified soldiers killed in action liberating the Donbas region of Ukraine from the hybrid army of the Russian Federation. The funeral was held in the town of Kushugum, Zaphorizhze oblast, on October 1, 2014.
A Russian mercenary in the Donbas with heavily bleeding leg wounds being evacuated in the rear (Image: censor.net.ua)
The Russian Federation have been using ethnically non-Russian troops for its aggression in Ukraine. Russian Federation servicemen from Chechnia arriving to fight in the Donbas in 2014 (Image: AFP)
Devastation caused by Russian aggression in Donbas, Ukraine (village of Peski) (Image: http://maxrokotansky.livejournal.com)
Devastation caused by Russian aggression in Donbas, Ukraine (village of Peski) (Image: http://maxrokotansky.livejournal.com)
Devastation caused by Russian aggression in Donbas, Ukraine (village of Peski) (Image: http://maxrokotansky.livejournal.com)
Russian occupation soldier at the devastated Donetsk airport in Donbas, Ukraine (Image: LB.ua)
Russian mercenary at the devasted Donetsk airport in Donbas, Ukraine (Image: LB.ua)
Devastation at Donetsk airport after the military aggression in the Donbas, Ukraine (Image: LB.ua)
Devastation caused by the Russian aggression in Donbas, Ukraine (Image: Tim Judah | NYRblog)
Devastation caused by the Russian aggression in Donbas, Ukraine (Image: Tim Judah | NYRblog)
One of the groups of Russian special forces and mercenaries that started the Russian invasion in Donbas, Ukraine
A house in Donbas destroyed by Russian artillery fire (Image: YouTube screengrab)
Russian mercenaries in Donbas, Ukraine (Image: uainfo.org)
Devastation from the Russian invasion in Donbas, Ukraine
Devastation from the Russian invasion in Donbas, Ukraine (village of Troitske)
Devastation from the Russian invasion in Donbas, Ukraine (village of Troitske)
Some of the devastation in the Donbas caused by the Russian military aggression: ruins of the Donetsk airport.

Particularly disturbing is the UN’s finding that

the number of combat losses for the last three months has gone up by 66 percent to 28 killed in action and 160 wounded.

The report says that most of these losses were along the front line but adds that there were more losses as a result of mines laid near those lines.

And it specifies that “the number of civilians who have died as a result of secondary consequences of military actions, including the lack of water, medicines or healthcare institutions remains unknown,” implicitly suggesting that the numbers involved in this category is likely quite large.

As the UN has done in earlier quarterly reports, the international organization also points to “the deteriorating situation with regard to human rights” in occupied Crimea. In particular, it notes that law enforcement organs there “continue to question and persecute people for the expression of views which are considered extremist.”

Edited by: A. N.

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