The number of people killed in the Ukraine conflict has risen above 3,000, if the victims of the MH17 plane crash are included, a senior United Nations human rights official said today.
Ivan Simonovic, UN assistant secretary general for human rights, told an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe that the registered number of people killed since the conflict erupted in April was now 2,729.
The number rose to above 3,000 if the 298 victims of the MH17 crash were included, as they should be, he said.
The same official said last month that a total of 2,593 people, including civilians as well as Ukrainian and separatist combatants, had been killed in fighting in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, a senior OSCE official said the ceasefire in Ukraine has largely held but remains shaky.
“Overall the ceasefire held even though it is still shaky,” ambassador Thomas Greminger of Switzerland, the current chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told an extraordinary meeting of the 57-nation OSCE. He said the next days would be crucial.
The has OSCE has about 250 monitors deployed in Ukraine.
Reuters