At least 7,883 people, including Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, as well as members of armed groups, have been killed in war-torn Donbas, and at least 17,610 injured, according to the latest report by the monitoring mission of the United Nations Human Rights Council to Ukraine.
From May 16 to Aug. 15, the period covered by the council’s latest
report, which was issued on Sept. 8, 105 civilians were killed and 308 injured
in the east of Ukraine. During the previous three-month reporting period 60
civilians were killed and 102 injured.
“In the post-ceasefire period of 16 February to 15 August 2015, the
HRMMU recorded 165 civilian deaths and 410 civilians injured,” the report said.
The council noted that the withdrawal of the heavy weaponry from the
contact line, foreseen in the Minsk Agreements, remained partial, as the
Russian-separatists’ forces, as well as Ukrainian forces continue to use
“mortars, canons, howitzers, tanks and multiple launch rocket systems in daily
clashes and exchanges of fire along the contact line.”
The shelling of populated areas on both sides of the contact line,
especially in Donetsk Oblast, persists, report said.
“(The sides) routinely did not comply with the international
humanitarian law principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions,
with numerous incidents of indiscriminate shelling of residential areas causing
civilian casualties observed… And, together with explosive remnants of war
and improvised explosive devices, they continued to claim civilian lives.”
Valentyn Borychenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military, denied the
accusations in comments to the Kyiv Post, saying that Ukrainian side “strictly
follows the Minsk agreements.”
“Our soldiers have the order not to react to provocations from the other
side,” he said.
The council also reported that it has been receiving and verifying
allegations “of killings, abductions, torture and ill-treatment, sexual
violence, forced labor, ransom demands and extortion of money” on the
territories controlled by Russian-separatist troops. About three million people
in these territories remain “without protection from the human rights
violations and abuses of the armed groups and their supporters.”
Hundreds of people are still held by the Russian-separatists’ forces,
according to the document.
The group also mentioned torture and ill-treatment of people detained by
Ukrainian law enforcement officials, mainly the SBU security service, as well
as violations of the procedural rights of prisoners.
“The HRMMU
continues to advocate for proper and prompt investigations into every single
reported case, and for the prosecution of perpetrators,” report said.
Borychenko called
such claims absurd, adding that Ukrainian side is “humane” and follows all
international rules in its treatment of detainees.
Kyiv Post staff writer
Alyona Zhuk can be reached at [email protected]
