Eastern Ukraine toll exceeds 6,000: UN

Geneva, March 2 (AZINS) More than 6,000 people have been killed in the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine, the UN said on Monday, noting that the recent clashes near Donetsk airport and the city of Debaltseve have resulted in the deaths of hundreds.

The two locations have witnessed the most recent and serious fighting between the Ukrainian government forces and the pro-Russian separatist militias, both before and shortly after the ceasefire went into effect two weeks ago.

In its latest report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that from mid-April 2014 to February 28, 2015, a total of 5,809 deaths were documented, while 14,740 more people were wounded in clashes in the east of Ukraine.

However, the OHCHR estimates that the total number of victims in the eastern Ukrainian conflict has "almost certainly" exceeded 6,000, including civilians and combatants, given that full casualty reports are still pending, including figures coming from the Donetsk airport and Debaltseve areas.

"More than six thousand lives have now been lost in less than a year due to the fighting in eastern Ukraine. It is imperative that all sides comply with the provisions of the Minsk agreement and halt indiscriminate shelling and other hostilities that have created a dreadful situation for civilians," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said.

The report compiled from data collected by observers deployed in Ukraine said that the number of casualties reported between early December and mid-February, when the ceasefire took effect, indicates that this was the most violent period of the conflict.

During this period, it is reported that 1,012 people died and 3,800 others were injured.

Al Hussein expressed his concern about the recent attacks in Kharkov and Odessa, along with a general fear of more attacks on the city of Mariupol where 31 people died on January 24, alone.

"Should this trend continue, it would represent a new and very deadly chapter in this conflict, expanding the areas where the rule of law and the protection of human rights are effectively absent," Al Hussein said.

"All aspects of people's lives are being negatively affected, and the situation is increasingly untenable for the local inhabitants, especially in areas controlled by the armed groups. Many have been trapped in conflict zones, forced to shelter in basements, with hardly any drinking water, food, heating, electricity or basic medical supplies," he explained.

This is the ninth human rights report prepared by UN observers who work independently from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is in charge of supervising the current ceasefire agreed upon in the Belarusian capital city of Minsk.