The United Nations (UN) chief António Guterres on Sunday called for a pause in fighting to allow civilians to escape conflict zones in Ukraine, reported The UN News.
The call was made after the UN rights body (OHCHR) announced it had recorded 1,123 civilian casualties since the beginning of Russia’s armed attack on Ukraine.
According to a statement released by the OHCHR, the total fatalities include 74 men, 42 women, 8 boys, and 4 girls, as well as 13 children and 223 adults whose gender is not known. The total injured include 67 men, 48 women, 11 girls, and 2 boys, as well as 28 children and 603 adults.
503 of the casualties were in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and 374 casualties in government-controlled territory, the OHCHR noted in the statement.
It added that most of the civilian casualties recorded 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 airstrikes.
In a Tweet, the UN chief said that it is extremely necessary to establish a pause in the ongoing war in Ukraine, to allow for the safe passage of civilians from all conflict zones, and also to ensure that life-saving humanitarian aid can move in to help those who remain.
Mr. Guterres singled out the hotspot cities of Mariupol, Kharkiv, and Sumy where civilians are at particular risk.
Notably, attempts to allow some 200,000 civilians to leave Mariupol safely continue to be thwarted, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reporting “devastating scenes of human suffering” in the city.
The ICRC reported on Sunday that, whilst their teams remain on standby to help with the evacuation, they need security guarantees in order to operate.
The UN and other relief organizations expect the fighting to intensify further, as the Russian army continues its military operation, particularly in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
