It has been exactly 200 days since the Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. On Sunday, Ukraine's army chief general Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said his forces kept pushing north in the Kharkiv region and advancing to its south and east. On Saturday, their rapid gains made Russia abandon its main bastion in the area.
However, people in Ukraine have faced a catastrophic human rights crisis in the last 200 days. The Kyiv Independent, an English-language Ukrainian online newspaper, reported that so far, 5,767 Ukrainian civilians, including 383 children, have been killed, while 31,814 war crimes by Russia were under investigation.
The report, citing the office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the president's office, prosecutor general's office, added that Russia reported 2 million civilians illegally to Ukraine, while 8,292 civilians have been injured during this period. Russia also fired 3,500 missiles since the beginning of the war, it reported.
The report also noted that Ukraine doesn't publish its military casualties. The number of civilian casualties is expected to be higher since it doesn't include data from the areas with heavy hostilities or those occupied by Russia.
President Zelensky hails Ukraine's advance
{{/usCountry}}The report also noted that Ukraine doesn't publish its military casualties. The number of civilian casualties is expected to be higher since it doesn't include data from the areas with heavy hostilities or those occupied by Russia.
President Zelensky hails Ukraine's advance
{{/usCountry}}President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed Ukraine's advance in the northeast Kharkiv province as a potential breakthrough in the six-month-old war, saying this winter could bring more rapid gains of territory if Kyiv can get more powerful weapons.
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"In the Kharkiv direction, we began to advance not only to the south and east, but also to the north. There are 50 km to go to the state border (with Russia)," General Zaluzhnyi said on Telegram.
He said the country's armed forces have regained control of more than 3,000 square km (1,158 square miles) since the beginning of this month.
In Moscow, Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday that Russian forces were hitting Ukrainian army positions in the Kharkiv region with precision strikes delivered by airborne troops, missiles and artillery.
Putin discusses Ukrainian nuclear plant with Macron
Putin on Sunday warned his French counterpart of the potential "catastrophic consequences" of what he said were Ukrainian attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine.
During a telephone call with Emmanuel Macron, Putin "drew attention to regular Ukrainian attacks on (Zaporizhzhia nuclear) facilities, including a radioactive waste storage facility, which is fraught with catastrophic consequences," the Kremlin said in a statement.
(With inputs from Reuters, AFP)