UN confirms death of 6,884 Ukrainian civilians since start of Russia’s full-scale invasion

The agency released the data on Tuesday, December 27.

From 1 to 26 December, OHCHR recorded 165 deaths and 516 injuries of civilians in Ukraine.

The institution emphasizes that the real number of deaths is much higher, as information from some places where intense fighting continues is delayed and many reports still need to be confirmed.

"This concerns, for example, Mariupol (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Lysychansk, Popasna, and Severodonetsk (Luhansk region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties," the report says.

The UN OHCHR points out that most of the recorded casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles and air strikes.

The UN is investigating whether Russia's shelling of Ukrainian critical infrastructure constitutes a war crime.