Ukraine has reported the deaths of more than 10,000 civilians since the Russian invasion last year, according to CNN.
Yuriy Belousov, the head of the War Crimes Division in the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office, said the number of civilian war casualties reached 10,749, with 15,599 others injured in the country since the Russian forces invaded on February 24, 2022.
In an interview with Ukrainian news agency “Interfax,” Belousov mentioned that the death toll includes 499 children, and he expects it to increase significantly once the occupied Ukrainian territories are liberated.
On July 7, the United Nations confirmed the deaths of “more than 9,000 civilians, including over 500 children,” but the actual number is expected to be higher.
Belousov’s team has documented 98,000 war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine during the invasion.
Regarding military casualties, it’s estimated that about 150,000 people have been killed or injured on both sides since the start of the Russian invasion in late February 2022, according to AFP.
In war-torn areas like Bakhmuts in eastern Ukraine, it is often difficult to ascertain the numbers of missing, dead, and displaced individuals. Determining the full toll might take several years, as seen during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s.
In 2007, a database was published with the names of around 97,000 killed in Bosnia, which was twice as low as the previously reported numbers.