
As Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, the stories and photos of those killed have started to show the human toll taken by war.
Ukraine’s interior minister reported 352 civilians dead and over 1,600 injured this past Sunday, a mere four days after the invasion began.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Liz Throssell said they’ve only been able to ‘cross-check’ 136 dead, including 13 children, but acknowledged the toll ‘is likely to be much higher.’
Throssell added that another 400 people – including 26 children – have been wounded from the fighting.
She blames the use of explosives with wide impact areas and shellings from heavy artillery for much of the death, as well as multiple launch rocket systems and airstrikes.
Reports are starting to surface identifying some of those killed as the invasion heads into its second week.
Yevgeny Malyshev, a 19-year-old Ukrainian biathlete, was reported dead from a battle in the city of Kharkov. He reportedly quit the national team two years ago to join the armed forced.
Marina Kalabina, an anesthesiologist in the Kyiv region, died under the kind of shelling of Russian troops that Throssell mentioned.
A Ukrainian policeman named Oleg Fedko lost five members of his own family amid Russian movement from Crimea, according to Sky News.
Fedko’s family – including a 6-year-old daughter named Sofia, a baby named Ivan, his wife Irina, father Oleg and mother Anna – all were killed.
Russia’s escalating attacks on populated urban areas of Ukraine left rubble and wreckage in streets and plazas as the invasion claimed new victims across the country. The central square in Ukraine´s second-biggest city was hit with what was believed to be a missile, leaving the massive area piled high with debris.
Hospitals raced to treat victims of the bombardment even as mothers and children sheltered in their basements. While the fighting in Ukraine raged, the death toll remained unclear.
At the border, anguished families said goodbye as women and children fled while many men returned to fight.
More than 675,000 people have escaped to neighboring countries since the Russian invasion began – a number that will only grow, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
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