All news

More than 1.5 mln abandon homes due to conflict in east of Ukraine - UN

According to the OCHA, Ukraine as at January 21 had 921,000 internally displaced persons

UNITED NATIONS, January 24. /TASS/. More than 1.5 million civilians have had to abandon their homes due to the conflict in the east of Ukraine, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Friday.

According to the OCHA, Ukraine as at January 21 had 921,000 internally displaced persons. Another 600,000 have taken refuge in the territories of neighbouring countries, mostly Russia.

“Renewed fighting in the east of the country has resulted in additional displacement, civilian loss of life, destruction of infrastructure, all resulting in increasing humanitarian needs. As of 21 January, the government entity officially in charge of IDP registration - has registered 921,640 IDPs across Ukraine, an increase of 47,878 since their last report on 14 January. This is a result of ongoing registration and the establishment of a new, more robust system,” the report says.

At this time, the UNOCHA said, it is not possible to quantify or track new IDP movements. “Of concern are reports indicating multiple arrivals at Kharkov Train Station where authorities are accepting IDPs only if they have close relatives in town,” the report said.

The report quotes the latest statistics available from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the World Health Organization saying that “from mid-April 2014 to January 21, 2015, at least 5,086 people were killed and 10,948 were wounded in the conflict area of eastern Ukraine.”

“Between January 13 and 21, at least 262 people (including at least seven children) were killed and 380 were wounded in the conflict zone,” the UNOCHA said.