Ukrainian conflict confirmed death toll reaches 6,083 — UN report

UNITED NATIONS, March 31. /TASS/. The United Nations published on Monday a report on casualties in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, saying the number of the killed and injured has increased.

Full accounts on casualties during the most recent escalation of hostilities (mid - January - mid - February) are still pending. Overall, since the beginning of the conflict in mid-April 2014 and until 27 March 2015, at least 6,083 people were documented as killed and 15,397 as wounded in the conflict area, says a regular report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The document says mines and unexploded ordnance are also posing a threat.

As of 23 March, there were 1,177,748 registered internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the country. According to UNHCR, as of 26 March, the total number of Ukrainians who have sought asylum, residence permits or other forms of legal stay in neighbouring countries now stands at 763,632 including 625,470 in Russia and 80,909 in Belarus.

Since being enacted in January, the Temporary Order has not only limited the freedom of movement for civilians, but also significantly impeded access of much needed humanitarian aid, namely food and medicine and construction materials. Given all of the complexities around humanitarian access, OCHA called a meeting with key humanitarian partners to explore operational solutions for dealing with bureaucratic impediments, the report says.

According to the OCHA report, as of 27 March, donors funded or pledged around USD 51 million to the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), or 16% of the USD 316 million required for 2015. Lack of funding for HRP is expected to result in significant impact in overall operation of some critical clusters. Due to inconsistent or no funding, the Food Security Cluster expects around 80,000 individuals with no access to Cash and Voucher activities, whereas food parcel support will have to be ceased in Non - Government Controlled Areas. At the same time, Health Cluster members are continuing to run their operations using limited internal funding mechanisms with no hard or soft pipelines in near sight, thus leading to potential decrease in both operations and flow of life - saving assistance.