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Over 6,000 deaths confirmed in Ukraine conflict since mid-April — UN

The number of documented cases of people being wounded has exceeded 15,000

UNITED NATIONS, March 23. /TASS/. The number of confirmed victims in the conflict in eastern Ukraine has exceeded 6,000 people, says a new report of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"Overall, since the beginning of the conflict in mid-April 2014 and until 19 March 2015, at least 6,072 people were documented as killed and 15,345 as wounded in the conflict area," the report said. "Full accounts on casualties during the most recent escalation of hostilities (mid-January-mid-February) are still pending" it said.

One week ago, the OCHA reported about 5,934 deaths and 15,300 people injured in the conflict.

"This is a conservative estimate of the UN Human Rights Mission in Ukraine (HRMU) and the World Health Organization based on available official data: casualties of the Ukrainian armed forces as reported by the Ukrainian authorities; 298 people from flight MH-17; and casualties reported by medical establishments of Donetsk and Luhansk regions: civilians and some members of the armed groups," the report said.

It said the HRMU and WHO believed the actual numbers of fatalities were much higher.

The OCHA reported 1,151,581 registered IDPs (internally displaced persons) across the country. The number of new IDP registrations in the last week has halved, it said.

"There are anecdotal reports of IDP movement to places of origin, as high as 50% in some areas. IDPs and affected populations continue to "commute" for a variety of reasons (e.g. pensions, to receive assistance, and scope out destruction to their homes)," it continued.

"According to UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees), as of 19 March, the total number of Ukrainians who have sought asylum, residence permits or other forms of legal stay in neighboring countries now stands at 747,357 including 610,558 in Russia and 80,885 in Belarus," it said.