Civilian toll in Ukraine climbs to 227 dead, 525 injured -U.N

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A view shows a residential building destroyed by recent shelling, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, in the city of Irpin in the Kyiv region, Ukraine March 2, 2022. REUTERS/Serhii Nuzhnenko

GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations human rights office said on Wednesday that it confirmed 227 civilians had been killed and 525 injured in Ukraine during the conflict through midnight on March 1.

“Most of these casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and air strikes,” it said in a statement issued in Geneva a week after Russia’s invasion began.

The U.N. human rights office said it believed that the true toll is “considerably higher”, especially in government-controlled territory in the last days, due to reporting delays in some areas where intensive hostilities have taken place.