More than 500 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the nearly two weeks since Russian forces invaded.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported on Wednesday that 516 civilians have been killed and another 908 wounded. Roughly 40 children were among those who died.
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An overwhelming majority (405) of the Ukrainian civilians who died were killed in cities still under Ukrainian control, including Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Zhytomyr, according to the update. The most number of wounded civilians also occurred in this group of regions.
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Most of the casualties were caused “by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the U.N. said in its update. The death and wounded tolls are likely “considerably higher” given “intense hostilities” have delayed such reports, they added, and there are still allegations of “hundreds of civilian casualties” that have not yet been corroborated.
In addition to Ukrainian civilians who have perished in the war, Russia has lost thousands of troops.
Lt. Gen. Scott David Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that his agency estimates between 2,000 and 4,000 Russian troops have died. However, they have “low confidence” in the assessment.
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The number is much lower than the estimate from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which said Russia had lost 12,000 troops. The Ukrainian government also reported that Russia has lost 49 planes, 81 helicopters, 317 tanks, 120 artillery pieces, 1,070 armored personnel carriers, 56 multiple-launch rocket systems, two boats, 482 cars, 60 fuel tankers, seven drones, and 28 anti-aircraft systems.
The Pentagon has repeatedly declined to comment when asked about the casualty count in Ukraine, citing the difficulty of such a task in a foreign nation. Additionally, warring countries have incentives to exaggerate the numbers.
