UN: 67 civilians killed in Donbas for six months

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recorded 375 conflict-related civilian casualties (67 killed and 308 injured) in Donbas since the beginning of the year.

This has been said in a statement made by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"This year, from January 1 to June 18, 2017, the HRMMU recorded 375 conflict-related civilian casualties: 67 killed and 308 injured. This is a 74% increase compared to the same period in 2016," the report said.

The number of civilian casualties caused by the shelling has doubled - 31 people were killed and 178 injured from 1 January to 18 June 2017, compared with 12 killed, 76 wounded in the same period in 2016.

"These statistics speak to the changing nature of the conflict: it is intensifying, with both sides very close to each other and heavy weapons, soldiers and members of armed groups frequently embedded in civilian areas or alongside civilian infrastructure, " reads a report.

The UN notes that the mission staff continue to document cases of unlawful and arbitrary detention on both sides of the contact line, coupled with abuse amounting to torture or ill-treatment.

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