In its intelligence update, the British Defense Ministry says the UN has documented a 20% increase in Ukrainian civilian casualties in March 2024, with 604 people affected by escalated missile and aerial munitions strikes, significantly impacting critical infrastructure.
The death toll for children doubled in March against February, with 57 fatalities recorded, according to the report.
In March, Russia resumed its strategic bombing campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, significantly damaging key facilities, including six main thermal power plants and two hydroelectric plants, as reported by DTEK Group and Ukrhydroenergo. Additionally, Russian shelling and bomb attacks on frontline cities intensified significantly.
The ministry wrote:
- According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, 604 civilians were killed or wounded in the month of March 2024. This equates to a 20% increase over the previous month. These deaths are attributed to missile and aerial-munitions strikes throughout Ukraine and increased bombardment at the frontlines. The report highlights the increased coordinated strikes on Ukrainian critical infrastructure with 20 destroyed or damaged sites.
- There were 57 children reported killed, double the previous month, and this was attributed directly to Russian use of aerial munitions. In total there have been 31,366 civilian casualties in Ukraine (including Ukrainian-controlled and Russian-controlled territories) since 24 February 2022: 10,810 killed and 20,556 wounded. These figures highlight the tremendous cost of life sustained from Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Read also:
- Russia hits 4 energy power plants, hospital in Kharkiv overnight
- Ukraine downs 16/17 Russia’s explosive drones as fifth civilian dies after Russian missile strike on Mykolaiv
- Six killed, ten injured in Russian nighttime strike on Kharkiv
- Child and journalist among 19 injured in Russia’s attack on Zaporizhzhia, which killed three civilians (updated)
