Almost 1,000 people have been killed in Ukraine since a ceasefire in September, an average of 13 people a day, according to the UN. A report from the organisation’s human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine puts the death toll at 957 from 5 September, when the peace pact was signed, to 18 November.
“The list of victims keeps growing. Civilians, including women, children, minorities and a range of vulnerable individuals and groups continue to suffer the consequences of the political stalemate in Ukraine,” the UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein, said.
Friday marks the first anniversary of the start of the Maidan protests against Ukraine’s former pro-Kremlin government, which eventually led to the conflict in the east.
In total, more than 4,300 combatants and civilians have been killed in eastern Ukraine since pro-Russia rebels seized border regions in April, the UN said. That figure includes the 298 people who died in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July.
The report detailed grave human rights abuses on both sides. One Ukrainian soldier said his right arm, bearing a “Glory to Ukraine” tattoo, had been severed with an axe by rebels. A separatist detained by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk said he was nearly suffocated with a plastic bag and repeatedly beaten.
The UN highlighted the huge number of people registered as displaced by the conflict, from 275,489 in mid-September to 466,829 on Wednesday.
The Kremlin denies western and Ukrainian accusations that it is aiding the separatist rebels with troops or military equipment, as diplomatic relations plunge to a low not seen since the cold war.
On Thursday, Nato said there have been about 400 intercepts of Russian military flights near its member countries this year, amid heightened tension between Moscow and the west over the crisis.
“If you look at the number of intercepts around Nato, we can talk about 400 intercepts, 50% more than last year,” Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in western Estonia. “Most of these flights are taking place in an international airspace, but they are close to our airspace, and they are interfering with commercial flights. It is a pattern that we haven’t seen for many years, back to the time of the cold war.”
He spoke from the Ämari air base that hosts the western defence alliance’s air policy mission over the Baltic states, following talks with Estonian prime minister Taavi Rõivas.
Newer Nato members such as Poland and the Baltic states once ruled from Moscow have been deeply concerned by Russia’s actions in Ukraine. The west believes Russia is pulling the strings in the deadly seven-month conflict between pro-western government forces and pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s east – an accusation the Kremlin denies.
Stoltenberg said Nato had seen “more than 100 intercepts, which is three times more than last year” around the Baltic region, but reiterated that the alliance would “protect and defend Estonia”.
Speaking on Thursday, German chancellor Angela Merkel said Russia is crucial to ensuring European security, as she marked a quarter century of reconciliation with neighbouring Poland. “We are aware that Europe’s security can only be ensured, in the medium and long term, with Russia,” Merkel said at a ceremony with Polish prime minister Ewa Kopacz in the southern Polish town of Krzyżowa.
“The sanctions are not a goal in themselves. They are applied only when necessary,” Merkel said, referring to western sanctions on Russia. “We want to proceed with dialogue with Russia.”
Krzyżowa is rich in the symbolism of the fall of the iron curtain across eastern Europe, ending the division between east and west, having hosted a significant 1989 Polish-German meeting of reconciliation.
