GENEVA, July 28 (RIA Novosti) – Intense shelling of villages, towns and cities in eastern Ukraine has resulted in a large number of civilian casualties, according to the UN report on the human rights in Ukraine released Monday.
“As the increasing number of casualties in the past few days attests, there has not been sufficient precaution taken to preventing death and injury to civilians,” the report reads.
According to the statement, recent examples include the shelling of the village of Maryinka and of the Petrovskiy district of Donetsk on July 11 and 12, an air strike on the town of Snizhne in Donetsk Region on July 15, the July 11 attack on the village of Golmovsky, near Horlivka, an air strike on the town of Krasnogrovka in Donetsk Region on July 13 and the shelling of the city of Luhansk on July 14-16.
In total, these attacks claimed the lives of at least 48 people, including one child, with some 90 others being injured, the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
More than 1,100 people have been killed in the Ukrainian conflict since mid-April and over 100,000 others have fled the conflict zone, according to the report.
As of July 15, at least 86,609 people had to flee the violence-torn regions, and this number is on the rise, the report said.
“The increased level of fear, intimidation, harassment and fighting inflicted on the population of the region resulted in an ever growing flood of internally displaced persons fleeing, at latest count 86,609 people,” the UN reported.
The Kiev authorities “appear unwilling or unable to take steps to calm the current situation” in a number of cities in eastern regions of the country, where tensions and a number of violent incidents are on the rise, including Odesa. Arrests of those accused of being linked to the militia in the east have become more frequent. Dissatisfaction with the regional and local authorities has also begun to come to a head in demonstrations, the report argues.
The Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also documented material damage. Kiev authorities estimate the cost of rebuilding of the east to be at least 8 billion hryvnias (about $750 million). Kiev plans to cover the expenses by cutting social programs as well as funding for education and health.
