MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. The number of civilians killed by the Kiev regime since 2014 has exceeded 12,300, Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the crimes of the Kiev regime, told a briefing.

"Since the beginning of Kiev’s military operation against the residents of Donbass, the so-called anti-terrorist operation, which since 2014 has escalated into a full-scale, high-intensity military conflict, the number of casualties on the Donbass and Russian sides due to the Kiev regime’s actions has already exceeded 40,000. More precisely, at least 40,230 civilians, of whom 12,381 have died, according to verified data," the diplomat said.

The armed conflict in Donbass lasted eight years, during which many residents of the region became refugees and internally displaced persons. Kiev imposed a complete economic blockade on Donbass. The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions joined Russia following referendums held in September 2022. Crimea and Sevastopol returned to the Russian Federation following a referendum in March 2014, following a coup d'·tat in Ukraine.