A UN report released on December 9 says the confirmed death toll from the conflict in eastern Ukraine now exceeds 9,000, despite a “significant reduction of hostilities in certain parts” of the region.
The report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine attributed the decrease in hostilities to the withdrawal of “certain heavy weapons by the Ukrainian military” and pro-Russian separatist fighters.
But it warned that weapons and fighters are still pouring into rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine from Russia.
It said the death toll since fighting began in April 2014 had reached 9,098 in mid-November with another 20, 732 people injured.
The casualty toll includes civilians, Ukrainian government troops, and pro-Russian armed groups.
The report says there were 47 civilian deaths in eastern Ukraine between August 26 and November 15.
It said most of those deaths were caused by “explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices, underscoring the urgent need for extensive mine clearance and mine awareness actions on both sides of the conflict line."