Nearly 18,000 civilians have been killed or injured since the start of the war in Ukraine

MADRID, 28 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Around 18,000 civilians have been killed or injured since the start of the war in Ukraine, unleashed on February 24 by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as confirmed by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights ( OHCHR).

The body has indicated in a statement that 6,884 civilians have died and 10,847 have been wounded since the start of the hostilities, bringing the total civilian casualties due to the fighting to 17,831.

Thus, it has detailed that among the dead there are 2,719 men, 18,32 women, 175 girls and 216 boys, as well as 38 minors and 1,904 adults whose identity could not be determined at the moment.

Among the injured are 2,364 men, 1,709 women, 229 girls and 318 boys, as well as 253 minors and 6,074 adults whose identity has not been specified.

The agency has highlighted that in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, in the Donbas region, there have been 9,696 victims -4,052 dead and 5,643 injured--. It has also specified that in the area controlled by Ukraine there have been 7,579 victims --3,569 dead and 4,010 wounded--, while in areas controlled by Russia there have been 2,116 victims --483 dead and 1,633 wounded--.

In the rest of the regions of Ukraine, 8,136 victims have been registered -2,832 dead and 5,304 wounded--. "Most of the recorded civilian casualties were caused by the use of wide-area explosive weapons, including attacks with heavy artillery, multiple rocket launchers, missiles and shelling," he noted.

Finally, he has outlined that "he considers that the real figures are considerably higher, given that the reception of information from some locations where there have been intense hostilities has caused delays and many reports are still awaiting corroboration", which it affects cities such as Mariupol, Izium, Lisichansk, Popasna and Severodonetsk.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian authorities have pointed out that Russian forces have destroyed more than 700 critical infrastructures since the start of the war. "We are talking about gas pipelines, substations, bridges and the like," stressed the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of the Interior, Yevgeni Yenin, as reported by the German news agency DPA.