'More than 5,300' killed in Ukraine conflict, UN says

GENEVA

More than 5,300 people have been killed and 12,200 others injured in eastern Ukraine since mid-April last year in the ongoing conflict between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists, the UN high commissioner for human rights said Tuesday.

Prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in Geneva that "in just the three weeks up to Feb. 1, at least 224 civilians have been killed and 545 wounded."

“Bus stops and public transport, marketplaces, schools and kindergartens, hospitals and residential areas have become battlegrounds in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine -- in clear breach of international humanitarian law which governs the conduct of armed conflicts," Zeid said.

"Any further escalation will prove catastrophic for the 5.2 million people living in the midst of conflict in eastern Ukraine," he said, urging "all States with influence to work together to ensure that parties to the conflict immediately cease hostilities and abide by earlier cease-fire decisions."

Eastern Ukraine has seen intense clashes between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists since April 2014.

The situation escalated in January, despite a cease-fire agreement signed by the Ukrainian government and the separatists on Sept. 5 in Belarus' capital Minsk.

The high commissioner said: "All violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law must be thoroughly investigated and perpetrators must be promptly brought to justice."

'20,000 people' internally displaced from Crimea to mainland Ukraine

Zeid expressed his concern over "worrying" developments in Crimea. He said that last week the only television network broadcasting in the Crimean Tatar language was raided by armed and masked men.

Separately, the deputy head of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, Ahtem Ciygoz, was detained last week and faces up to 10 years in prison.

Ciygoz was taken into custody Jan. 29 on suspicion of organizing "mass disorder" in front of Crimea's parliament in Simferopol on Feb. 26, 2014 when Crimean Tatars and other pro-Ukrainian activists clashed with pro-Russian activists. 

The UN High Commissioner said that more than 20,000 people have been internally displaced from Crimea to mainland Ukraine since the March 2014 internationally disputed referendum.

In the controversial vote held on March 16, Crimea seceded from Kiev in favor of unification with Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill that officially incorporated Crimea into the Russian Federation on March 21.

The move was opposed by the U.S., European Union and the United Nations.