UN: Thousands of civilians presumed killed in Mariupol

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Explosions were heard again near Kyiv this morning.

BBC correspondent Lyse Doucet said the day began with air raid sirens, followed by loud impacts from the outskirts of the city that were felt even in the center of the capital.

Reporter Jeremy Bowen, also in Kyiv, tweeted that "many sounds of artillery rumbled from the edge of the city to the center.".

It is unclear whether the explosions are "Russian or Ukrainian or both," he stated.

Yesterday, after talks, the Russians said they intended to reduce operations near the capital - a promise that many Western leaders said should be treated with caution.

The Ukrainian city of Lysychansk in the east of the country was shelled with heavy artillery this morning, causing extensive damage to residential areas, according to local officials.

"There has been significant destruction of high-rise buildings. Data on the number of dead and injured is being clarified. There are many blockades," wrote the regional governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Gaidai, in a Telegram message.

UN Presumes Thousands of Civilians Killed in Mariupol

Thousands of civilians are presumed to have been killed in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol since the bombing began four weeks ago.

"We believe there could be thousands of civilian casualties in Mariupol," said Matilda Bogner, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, which has about 60 observers deployed, Reuters reported.

She emphasized that there is still no precise estimate of the number of dead, but said that work is underway to gather more information.

According to the spokesperson for the mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, nearly 5,000 people, including about 210 children, have been killed in the city since Russian troops surrounded it a month ago, Ukrinform reports.

Ninety percent of the buildings in Mariupol have been damaged, and forty percent have been destroyed, including hospitals, schools, kindergartens, and factories. Local officials, citing witness testimonies, estimated last week that 300 people were killed in the bombing of the Mariupol theater on March 16, where people were hiding.

"Regarding mass graves, we have actually decided now that we should call them 'makeshift graves'," Bogner said, explaining that the term 'mass graves' can imply that they contain victims of crimes, and that in Mariupol, there are various causes and reasons for people's deaths.

The number of civilian casualties in makeshift graves in parks and gardens is believed to be "quite small," she pointed out.

Some people who died of natural causes were not taken to morgues or individual graves due to the conflict, while others never reached doctors, she added. It is unclear whether soldiers were also buried in the makeshift graves, Bogner said.

As of Tuesday, the UN Human Rights Office has confirmed 1,179 killed and 1,860 injured civilians across Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.

In the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which is under constant attack by Russia, numerous buildings and vehicles have been severely destroyed.

The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, stated earlier this week that about 160,000 people want to leave the city, which is under siege by the Russian army.

Russia's war against Ukraine, which began on February 24, has met with strong reactions from the international community, and the European Union, the US, and the UK, among others, have imposed strict economic sanctions on Moscow. Hundreds of global companies have also suspended operations in Russia.

At least 1,179 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 1,860 injured, according to UN estimates, which state that the actual number is likely much higher.

More than 3.9 million Ukrainians have also fled to several European countries, and millions are displaced within the country, according to data from the UN refugee agency.

British Ministry of Defense: Russian units returning to Belarus for resupply

Russia's focus on the offensive in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions is a "tacit admission" that Russia is struggling to advance its troops, the British Ministry of Defense said.

Units that suffered heavy losses were forced to return to Russia and Belarus for resupply and reorganization, which put pressure on Russia's "already strained logistics," the statement said, according to the BBC.

The Ministry of Defense adds that Russian forces will likely compensate for reduced ground maneuver capability with massive artillery and missile strikes.