Civilians are increasingly falling victim to fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, with at least 224 killed and more than 540 others hurt in the final three weeks of January, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights said Tuesday.
Forces indiscriminately shelled residential areas in government-controlled territories such as Debaltseve and Avdiivka and rebel-held cities such as Donetsk and Horlivka as fighting escalated last month, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said.
“Bus stops and public transport, marketplaces, schools and kindergartens, hospitals and residential areas have become battlegrounds in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine — in clear breach of international humanitarian law which governs the conduct of armed conflicts,” the high commissioner said in a statement.
Debaltseve, northeast of the city of Donetsk, has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent days as separatist forces seek to surround Ukrainian troops.
The conflict’s total death toll since mid-April, including combatants and civilians, is at least 5,358 — an increase of 272 in less than two weeks — with another 12,235 injured, the United Nations said.
Last month’s most deadly single incident involving civilians occurred in the southeastern city of Mariupol when two attacks involving multiple-launch rocket systems killed at least 31 people and injured 112 others, the United Nations said.
“Any further escalation will prove catastrophic for the 5.2 million people living in the midst of conflict in eastern Ukraine,” the high commissioner said.
The U.N. official called on nations with influence in the region to pressure the combatants to return to a ceasefire agreement reached in September in Minsk, Belarus — a deal that eroded long ago.
His office also expressed concern about “the implications of the harsh winter months on civilians in conflict-affected areas, with shortages of food and water and power cuts.”