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\u201cDuring the first two months of this year, 60 per cent of all civilian casualties were in frontline regions (and) almost half of those killed were older persons,\u201d said Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a scheduled update on the war to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Ms. Al-Nashif noted that the leading cause of death and injury was \u201cattacks involving short-range drones\u201d<\/strong> in both Ukrainian government-controlled areas and territory occupied by Russia.\u00a0<\/p>\n UN data shows that in 2025, at least 580 civilians were killed and 3,000 injured in such attacks<\/strong>. But in just the first two months of this year, 107 civilians were killed and 430 injured, representing a near-doubling of the casualty rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n A full 95 per cent of casualties were caused by short-range drones targeting Government-controlled territory, the Deputy High Commissioner added.<\/p>\n Danger is ever-present in frontline areas occupied by Russia too, including Oleshky district in Kherson region, where residents describe \u201cfrequent drone attacks\u201d, ambassadors heard.<\/p>\n \u201cTogether with landmines along roads\u2026 evacuation (is) extremely difficult and dangerous, leaving many people trapped close to the frontline<\/strong>,\u201d Ms. Al-Nashif maintained, describing food shortages and other critical humanitarian needs.<\/p>\n Turning to repeated attacks by Russian forces on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the Deputy High Commissioner noted that these have intensified this winter, \u201cincluding strikes on systems that heat residential buildings<\/strong>, causing severe hardship for civilians\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Today, Ukraine has lost more than half its capacity to generate electricity, causing power outages across the country \u201cof up to 22 hours a day in some areas\u201d, Ms. Al-Nashif explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHundreds of thousands of civilians were left without heating, some for weeks and even months, in temperatures that often fell below minus 15\u00b0C,\u201d she continued, before citing reports that could not be confirmed of attacks on energy facilities in Russian-controlled areas, too.<\/p>\n Echoing those concerns, the UN Children\u2019s Fund, UNICEF, warned that youngsters have endured \u201cthe toughest winter\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>of the war so far, caused by attacks on energy and water infrastructure that have disrupted electricity, heating and water and sanitation amid freezing temperatures.<\/p>\n \u201cChildren lost an estimated 79 to 88 per cent of effective learning time between mid-January and mid-February,\u201d said the agency\u2019s Anne Grandjean, Programme Specialist.<\/p>\n The Deputy High Commissioner also highlighted longstanding concerns of Russia\u2019s \u201cwidespread\u201d and continuing ill-treatment of captured soldiers.<\/p>\n \u201cOver 96 per cent of the Ukrainian prisoners of war that we interviewed said they were subjected to torture and ill-treatment<\/strong> during their captivity\u201d since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ms. Al-Nashif explained.<\/p>\n In a call to Russia \u201cto stop this war\u201d, the senior UN human rights official also urged Moscow to \u201chalt extrajudicial executions, torture, ill-treatment and other violations against prisoners of war and civilian detainees\u2026In short, to meet in full their obligations under international law\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Deputy High Commissioner also called on Ukraine \u201cto safeguard prisoners of war from torture and ill-treatment\u201d and end discrimination against people often left with no choice but to leave territory occupied by Russia.\u00a0<\/p>\n Responding to those comments, Ukraine\u2019s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, underscored the widespread impact of the war in uprooting thousands of civilians in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea \u2013 \u201ca deliberate strategy by Russia to terrorise civilians, suppress dissent and punish those who refuse to abandon their homes or comply with Russia’s illegal policies\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dismissing the UN Deputy High Commissioner\u2019s update on the war, the Russian delegation urged her to \u201cstop upholding the Kyiv regime\u201d alleging a \u201cwar on dissenters, bloggers, journalists, enemies of Zelensky\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\nFrontline victims<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Plight of captured soldiers<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Right to reply<\/strong><\/h2>\n