Death Toll in Ukrainian Conflict Approaches 7,000

Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Cécile Pouilly says that almost 7,000 people have been killed and over 17,000 have been injured since the start of the Ukrainian conflict in April 2014.

GENEVA, July 28 (Sputnik) — Almost 7,000 people have been killed and over 17,000 have been injured since the start of the Ukrainian conflict in April 2014, Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Cécile Pouilly said Tuesday.

"Since mid-April, 2014 until June 27, 2015 at least 6,832 people have been killed, and at least 17,087 people have been injured in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine," Pouilly told RIA Novosti.

According to Pouilly, these figures include 298 victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash in Donbass on July 17, 2014.

Ukraine's southeast was engulfed in a conflict beginning in April 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation to suppress local militias dissatisfied with the country’s new government coming to power following a February 2014 coup.

In mid-February, Kiev and the the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Lugansk signed a ceasefire agreement after Normandy Quartet talks in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. However, both sides have since repeatedly accused each other of violating the deal.

At the beginning of 2015 fighting in Ukraine’s southeast intensified, with the Donetsk Airport and Shirokyno being some of the hotspots of violence.

UN figures suggest that 1.3 million people have been displaced due to the conflict and 5 million are in need humanitarian aid.