The UN reported Monday that at least 18,483 civilians have died or suffered injury in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of the country in February 2022. The UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) said that 7,068 civilians died and 11,415 civilians were hurt as a result of the war. This figure includes the deaths of 438 children and 838 child injuries.
OHCHR put the number of civilian casualties from January 1-22 at 504, including 132 deaths and 372 injuries.
In addition, the report disclosed that most of the casualties were linked to the use of explosive weapons. The UN office said that it is probable that the civilian casualties are “considerably higher” than those reported due to delays in communication.
The European Parliament, Germany, and the United Kingdom, within the past month, have each called for a special tribunal to prosecute alleged war crimes in Ukraine. If created, this special tribunal would investigate claims of aggression, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
On January 3, 2023 Ukrainian authorities reportedly discovered what appeared to be a Russian torture chamber in Mikolaiv Oblast. Prosecutors allege that Russian troops took civilians who refused to vacate their homes to the chamber and subsequently tortured them. According to the Ukraine Prosecutor General’s Office, this is just one of 54 torture chambers discovered in formerly Russian-controlled areas.
The Associated Press (AP) also conducted an analysis that revealed evidence of approximately 10,300 new graves in Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast since March 2022, when fighting in the port city escalated. Most of the graves lack names and the few that have names are written with hand-scrawled numbers on small plaques. These graves are located in Manhush, Vynohradne and Staryi Kyrm.
The AP’s report comes after satellite imagery company Maxar published images showing an increase in the number of graves in Mariupol’s Staryi Krym cemetery.
Article: UN reports 18,483 civilians killed or injured in Russia-Ukraine war