© OCHA A burnt car and destroyed buildings in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. UN mission: since the beginning of May, 70 civilians have been killed and more than 500 injured throughout Ukraine Peace and security
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission (HRMMU) said on Wednesday that the number of civilian casualties has risen sharply as a result of a series of massive attacks across Ukraine. According to the mission, at least 70 people have been killed and more than 500 injured since May 1.
On May 5 alone, strikes by Russian military forces reportedly killed 28 people and wounded another 194. The mission has already confirmed a significant portion of these cases and continues to verify the information.
“The scale and geography of the attacks are seriously alarming”
HRMMU Head Danielle Bell stressed that the intensity and scope of attacks in recent days are unprecedented: “Since May 1, more than 570 civilians have reportedly been killed and injured in 14 regions of Ukraine residents.” From May 1 to May 5, attacks were carried out on large cities and industrial areas. Among the hardest hit was Zaporozhye, where on May 5 air bombs hit an industrial zone, reportedly killing at least 12 people and injuring 46. On the same day, strikes on the central regions of Kramatorsk led to the death of at least six people, 13 were wounded. A series of missile and drone attacks also affected Ternopil, Rivne, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson, Poltava and Odessa regions.
Repeated strikes on rescuers
In a number of cases, strikes were repeated on already damaged facilities, which led to the death of emergency services personnel. In the Poltava region, two rescuers were killed when a second strike hit a gas production facility that had been attacked earlier on the night of May 4-5. In Kherson on May 3, a medical team arriving at the site of a previous attack was hit by a drone.
Daytime attacks increased the number of casualties
Many attacks on densely populated areas took place during daylight hours, which, according to the HRMMU, contributed to an increase in the number of deaths and injuries. “People were doing normal things – driving to work, shopping, walking or helping victims,” Bell said. “Under these circumstances, the harm to the civilian population was foreseeable.”
Casualties in territories under Russian control
From May 1 to 5, 10 people were reported killed in territories controlled by the Russian Federation. Five of them were killed in a drone strike on May 5 in Dzhankoy, Crimea. In Cheboksary on May 5, at least two people were reported killed and 35 injured. The mission stressed that parties to the conflict are obliged to respect international humanitarian law and take all possible measures to minimize civilian casualties – from the timing of the attack to the type of weapons used.