UN: 579 Civilians Killed in Ukraine Since Start of Russian Invasion

At least 579 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and 1,002 others have been injured since the start of the Russian invasion, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 

In a statement, the UN office stated that most of the recorded civilian casualties resulted from the use of explosive weapons with a wide-area effect, including heavy artillery, multiple launch missile systems, missile, and air strikes.

It is worth mentioning that 79 children were killed and almost 100 were injured after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Ukrinform announced on Saturday.

In a statement on Telegram, the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the most affected children are in the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy, Kherson, and Zhytomyr regions.

Furthermore, more than 280 educational institutions have been destroyed, in addition to some 110 educational institutions damaged in the Donetsk region, 28 in the Sumy region, 17 in Kyiv and more than ten children’s medical institutions.

The Russian-Ukrainian conflict reached a new turning point on February 21, after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics of Ukraine, an escalatory step that drew great anger from Kyiv and its Western allies.

In the wake of this, the Russian forces began, at dawn on Thursday, February 24, to launch a military operation in eastern Ukraine, which opened the door to the possibility of the outbreak of a "third world war," which would be the first in the twenty-first century.