Daily Times

Russia’s claimed annexation of Ukrainian territory will only exacerbate human rights violations, the UN rights office said Tuesday as it outlined the “unspeakable suffering and devastation” inflicted on Ukrainians. Christian Salazar Volkmann, presenting a report on Ukraine to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, said UN experts had documented “a range of violations of the rights to life, liberty and security”. “The Russian Federation’s wide-scale armed attack has resulted in a dire human rights situation across Ukraine,” the UN rights office’s field operations chief said. “The people in Ukraine have experienced unspeakable suffering and devastation.” He said the office’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission, which has been present in Ukraine since 2014, had documented 6,114 civilians killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, stressing though that “the real figures are likely considerably higher.” “The Russian Federation’s armed attack has caused the death of thousands and brought about widespread destruction of civilian objects and infrastructure,” Salazar Volkmann said. And he warned that the situation would only get worse as Russia pushes forward with finalising the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, following hastily-arranged referendums dismissed as a “sham” by the West.