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At least 549 people have died in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to figures released by the UN on Thursday.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner also said in an update that 957 people were injured during the conflict.
However, the UN notes that the actual number of deaths and injuries during the Russian invasion of Ukraine is likely “significantly higher”, saying that information is being delayed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, stating that “our confrontation with these [Ukrainian] forces are inevitable.
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Ukrainian emergency workers and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman out of a shelled maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Later, Ukraine’s foreign minister said that Putin had launched a “full-scale invasion” of Ukraine.
According to official figures, Russian troops shelled a Ukrainian maternity hospital and a children’s hospital in Mariupol on Wednesday, killing three people, including a child.
At least 17 people were injured in the attack, including women awaiting childbirth.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the West needs tougher sanctions.
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A woman walks near a shelled maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. A Russian attack has severely damaged a maternity hospital in the besieged port city of Mariupol, according to Ukrainian officials. (AP Photo/Eugene Maloletka)
“Children’s Hospital. Maternity hospital. How did they threaten the Russian Federation?” Zelensky said. “What kind of country is this, the Russian Federation, which is afraid of hospitals, is afraid of maternity hospitals and destroys them?”
A senior regional police official called the attack a “war crime”, saying there was no justification for the attack.
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Gutted cars after a nighttime air raid in the village of Bushiv, 40km west of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 4, 2022. Russia’s war with Ukraine is now in its ninth day, and Russian troops have shelled Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, causing a fire. which was extinguished in one night. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
“Today Russia has committed a huge crime,” said Vladimir Nikulin. “This is a war crime without any justification.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report