Number of Civilians Affected by Donbass Conflict Shows Decrease in April

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that a decrease in civilian casualties linked to the Ukrainian conflict has been noted in April.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A decrease in civilian casualties linked to the Ukrainian conflict has been noted in April, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Monday in a statement.

"A slight decrease of conflict-related civilian casualties was recorded in April, with 66 casualties (13 deaths and 53 injuries) reported compared to 71 in March," the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said as quoted in the statement.

According to the data, around 3.8 million people in Ukraine require humanitarian assistance.

In 2014, Ukrainian authorities launched a special military operation in the country’s southeast, after local residents refused to recognize the new authorities in Kiev, which took the power as a result of what many considered as a coup, and established the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics (DPR and LPR).

In February 2015, the warring parties to the Ukrainian conflict signed the Minsk peace accords in order to cease fire in the crisis-torn region. Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, as the members of the Normandy Four, helped negotiate the Donbass ceasefire. It has been, however, repeatedly breached, with the conflicting sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire regime.