During the summit of the leaders of the European Union and China, which will be held on April 1, the main topic of discussion will be the war waged by Russia against Ukraine and its negative impact on the global security, economic and trade systems.
This was announced by the European Commission on the eve of the summit.
“Given the severity of recent developments, discussion during the summit is expected to focus on Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine and its negative impact on the rules-based system, global security and economy,” the press release said.
In addition, the EU and Chinese leaders will review a comprehensive bilateral agenda between Brussels and Beijing, including trade and investment relations, climate action, digital technology, human rights, post-pandemic economic recovery, and regional issues.
The summit will be held in the format of a videoconference. The EU will be represented by the Presidents of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the Presidents of the European Council Charles Michel, with the participation of High Representative Josep Borrell, China – Prime Minister Li Keqiang.
The European Commission begins negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the Life for Climate and Environment Program, which will allow receiving EU support in restoring the ecosystem after the war waged against it by Russia.
“Today, the European Commission begins negotiations with Ukraine to offer the country the opportunity to join the Life for Climate and Environment Program,” European Commission spokesman Adalbert Janz said at a briefing on Thursday.
According to him, by joining the Life Program, Ukraine will benefit from European support in rebuilding its environment after the destruction caused by the Russian attack. In particular, we are talking about heavy pollution and damage caused to the ecosystem. “This will be useful in order to secure the long-term well-being of the country and its sustainability,” he stressed.
Losses among civilians since February 24, 2022, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, until 24:00 on March 27, 2022, amounted to 2,975 civilians (2,909 in the report a day earlier), including 1,151 dead (1,119), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported on Monday.
“OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration,” the document says.
This concerns, for example, Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Popasna and Rubizhne (Luhansk region), and Trostianets (Sumy region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties. These figures are being further corroborated and are not included in the above statistics.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the report said.
According to confirmed UN data, 229 men, 171 women, 34 boys and 15 girls died, while the sex of 54 children and 648 adults has not yet been determined.
Among the 1,824 injured, there were 34 girls and 26 boys, as well as 73 children, whose sex has not yet been determined.
Compared to the previous day, four children were killed and seven were injured, according to the UN.
OHCHR points out that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on March 28, there are 317 (301) deaths and 700 (694) injured in the territory controlled by the government, and 60 (59) deaths and 228 (227) injured in the territory controlled by the self-proclaimed “republics.”
In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 774 (759) dead and 896 (869) wounded .
The report also states that, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, as of 08:00 on March 28, some 143 (139) children were killed and 216 (205) injured.
The increase in indicators in this report compared to the figures in the previous report should not be attributed only to new cases that occurred on March 27, since OHCHR also verified a number of cases that occurred in previous days during the day, the document specifies.
As of March 24, 2022, the KSE Institute estimated damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure from the war in the country at $62.9 billion, or UAH 1.8 trillion, while its analysts increased the amount by $3.5 billion over the past week, according to a press release. release of the analytical division of the Kiev School of Economics KSE Institute.
“Compared to the data released on March 17, taking into account the new received more accurate data on damage (as a result of which certain items of losses were revised downward), the net increase (in damages) was $ 3.5 billion,” according to the KSE Institute. on Friday, citing data analysis from the Russia Will Pay project.
Analysts estimate that since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the occupiers have damaged, destroyed or seized at least 4,431 residential buildings, 92 factories or businesses, 378 educational institutions, 138 healthcare facilities, eight civilian airports and 10 military airfields, seven TPP and HPP.
At the same time, over the course of a week, analysts received more detailed data from the Ministry of Infrastructure on the destruction of infrastructure facilities, on the basis of which, in a number of areas – railway infrastructure, bridges and bridge crossings, civil airports – the damage assessment was reduced.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has documented 2,858 civilian casualties (2,788 a day before) in the country, including 1,104 (1,081) killed (from February 24 when the Russia invaded Ukraine to 24:00 midnight on March 25, 2022 (local time).
“OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, especially in Government-controlled territory and especially in recent days, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration,” the UN said in the document.
According to him, this applies, for example, to Izium (Kharkiv region), and Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Severodonetsk and Rubizhne (Luhansk region), Trostianets (Sumy region), where there are allegations of hundreds of civilian casualties. These figures are being further corroborated and are not included in the above statistics.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the UN said in the report.
According to confirmed UN data, some 221 men, some 221 women, 30 boys and 15 girls killed, while the sex of 51 children and 620 adults has not yet been known.
Among the 1,754 injured, some 30 girls and 24 boys, as well as 70 children, whose sex is yet unknown.
Compared to the previous day, three children were killed, and four more children were wounded, according to the UN.
OHCHR said that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight March 26, there were 295 (285) dead and 681 (672) injured in government-controlled territory, and 59 (59) dead and 227 (224) injured in territory controlled by self-proclaimed “republics.”
In other regions of Ukraine under government control (Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 750 (737) killed and 846 (811) wounded.
OHCHR notes the report of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, according to which as of 8 a.m. (local time) 26 March, 136 (135) children had been killed and 199 (184) injured.
OHCHR also notes the report of the Head of the Investigative Department of the National Police of Kharkiv region, according to which as of 6 p.m. (local time) 25 March, 323 (306) civilians had been killed in the region, including 15 (15) children.
An increase in figures in this update compared with the previous update (as of 24:00 midnight on 24 March 2022 local time) should not be attributed to civilian casualties that occurred on 25 March only, as during the day OHCHR also corroborated casualties that occurred on previous days.
From February 24, 2022, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, until 24:00 on March 23, 2022, civilian casualties amounted to 2,685 people (in the report a day earlier – 2,571), including 1,035 dead (977), reports the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Wednesday.
“UNHCHR believes that the real numbers are much higher, especially in government-controlled territory, and especially in recent days, as information from some places where there has been intense fighting has been delayed, and many reports are still awaiting confirmation,” it said.
According to him, this applies, for example, to Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Severodonetsk and Rubizhne (Luhansk region), Trostianets (Sumy region), where there are reports of numerous civilian casualties. They are subject to further verification and are not included in the above statistics.
“The majority of civilian deaths or injuries were caused by the use of explosive devices with a wide area of effect, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, as well as rocket and air strikes,” the report says.
According to confirmed UN data, 214 men, 160 women, 28 boys and 14 girls died, while the sex of 48 children and 571 adults has not yet been determined.
Among the 1,650 injured, there are 28 girls and 23 boys, as well as 67 children, whose sex has not yet been determined.
Compared to the previous day, nine children were killed and ten were injured, according to the UN.
The office indicates that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on March 24, there were 255 (224) dead and 646 (621) injured in government-controlled territory, and 56 (55) dead and 211 (202) injured in the non-controlled territory.
In other regions of Ukraine under government control (in Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 724 (698) dead and 793 (771) injured.
