More than 6,400 killed amid ‘tremendous hardship’ in Ukraine says UN

The United Nations said Monday that more than 6,400 people had been killed in conflict-wracked Ukraine, and despite a slowdown in fighting, millions more are suffering from abuses and hardship.

In its latest report, the UN human rights office noted that an overall decrease in indiscriminate shelling since a fragile truce was agreed in Minsk in February had resulted in a decrease in civilian casualties.

But nonetheless, at least 6,417 people have perished from the beginning of the conflict in mid-April 2014 through May 30, 2015, including at least 626 women and girls, while another 15,962 had been wounded, it said.

“This is a conservative estimate and the actual numbers could be considerably higher,” the rights office said in a statement.

Some five million others are meanwhile suffering the consequences of the conflict, including 1.2 million people who have been displaced inside the war-ravaged country, the report said.

“Even with the decrease in hostilities, civilians continue to be killed and wounded,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said.