This Friday, June 3, it has been 100 days since the conflict in Ukraine broke out. It is difficult to know the number of civilian and military victims in each camp.
On February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin announced the launch of a “special military operation”. Quickly, the first bombardments on the main Ukrainian cities are launched and the Russian troops invade the country. Since then the fighting has not stopped. On the 100th day of the conflict, it is difficult to have a real assessment of the number of victims.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) counts the number of civilian victims every day. On June 1, he announced: 4,169 civilians killed, including 268 children; 4982 injured including 423 children.
But OHCHR believes the actual numbers are considerably higher, as receiving information from some places where intense hostilities are taking place is difficult and many reports are still awaiting verification. This concerns, for example, Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Popasna (Luhansk region), and Borodyanka (Kyiv region), where there are “allegations of numerous civilian casualties”, can we read on the United Nations website.
Latest update on civilian casualties in context of Russia’s armed attack against #Ukraine: 4,169 killed, including 268 children; 4,982 injured, incl 423 children, mostly caused by shelling & airstrikes. Actual toll is much higher. More \u27a1\ufe0f https://t.co/zEcKVr9UWn pic.twitter.com/xH1qcUIHqA
— UNHumanRightsUkraine (@UNHumanRightsUA) June 2, 2022
The Ukrainian authorities speak of more than 20,000 deaths in Mariupol alone. More than 100,000 people there are on the brink of starvation, also lacking water, the UN estimates.
Heavy losses for Russian troops
On the military level, it is the declarations of each camp that give indications as to the number of victims and wounded, but it is difficult to verify these figures.
The Ukrainian President said on Friday April 15 that around 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the start of the conflict and some 10,000 injured.
On the Russian side, they declare “significant losses”. They acknowledged the loss of more than a thousand soldiers but according to some Western sources it would be 10 times more.
kyiv estimates that 30,700 Russian soldiers have lost their lives since the start of the war.
NGOs like Amnesty International are working to collect figures on the number of victims, on both sides.
