Civilian casualties this spring from the conflict in eastern Ukraine have risen by nearly 50 percent over the winter months, a UN report published Tuesday said.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said there were 36 conflict-related civilian deaths and 157 injuries between February 15 and May 15.
This was a 48 percent increase on the previous reporting period from 16 November 2016 to 15 February 2017 when there were 23 deaths and 107 injuries, it said.
Fighting between government troops and Russian-backed rebels saw "daily ceasefire violations... the routine use of heavy weaponry" as well as "indiscriminate shelling," the report said.
The HRMMU said the attacks and the resulting damage to schools, hospitals and water facilities raised "heightened concern" for the protection of civilians.
The report warned that, as summer approaches, there was a risk of further escalation in hostilities, as in previous years.
The mission said a total of 10,090 people, including 2,777 civilians, died and 23,966 people were injured since the conflict began on 14 April 2014.
More than 1.6 million people fled their homes, while some three million remained on territory controlled by armed groups.
Kiev and the West accuse Russia of masterminding the conflict that followed the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Kremlin leader by protestors and the annexation by Moscow of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
Efforts to secure a peace deal have ground to a halt as the fighting dragged on, and neither side appears prepared to make concessions.
On Monday, the Ukrainian military reported the death of seven of its soldiers in just three days of renewed fighting.
Rebels on Tuesday said two civilians were killed in overnight shelling in the outskirts of their de facto capital.
Civilian casualties this spring from the conflict in eastern Ukraine have risen by nearly 50 percent over the winter months, a UN report published Tuesday said.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said there were 36 conflict-related civilian deaths and 157 injuries between February 15 and May 15.
This was a 48 percent increase on the previous reporting period from 16 November 2016 to 15 February 2017 when there were 23 deaths and 107 injuries, it said.
Fighting between government troops and Russian-backed rebels saw “daily ceasefire violations… the routine use of heavy weaponry” as well as “indiscriminate shelling,” the report said.
The HRMMU said the attacks and the resulting damage to schools, hospitals and water facilities raised “heightened concern” for the protection of civilians.
The report warned that, as summer approaches, there was a risk of further escalation in hostilities, as in previous years.
The mission said a total of 10,090 people, including 2,777 civilians, died and 23,966 people were injured since the conflict began on 14 April 2014.
More than 1.6 million people fled their homes, while some three million remained on territory controlled by armed groups.
Kiev and the West accuse Russia of masterminding the conflict that followed the ouster of Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin leader by protestors and the annexation by Moscow of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
Efforts to secure a peace deal have ground to a halt as the fighting dragged on, and neither side appears prepared to make concessions.
On Monday, the Ukrainian military reported the death of seven of its soldiers in just three days of renewed fighting.
Rebels on Tuesday said two civilians were killed in overnight shelling in the outskirts of their de facto capital.
