Today (Tuesday) the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced that about 8,490 people have been killed in the Russian-Ukrainian war, expressing fears that there are several thousand unverified deaths.
The office said: We monitored the killing of 8,490 people and the wounding of 14,244 others in the period from the beginning of the war on February 24, 2022 until April 9, 2023.
Most of the deaths were recorded in Ukrainian government-controlled territory, including 3,927 in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which are witnessing heavy fighting.
"UNHCR believes that the actual numbers are much higher due to the delay in receiving information from some locations witnessing intense fighting, and many reports still need to be confirmed," the office said in a statement.
The official in Donetsk, Jenis Pushilin, said that the Russian forces are continuing to move forward with confidence, and are continuing the completion of the operation to liberate Artemovsk, explaining in televised statements that the Russian forces have managed to significantly improve their positions in the Mariinsky and Gorlovka directions.
On the other hand, an unidentified drone crashed at the airport in the Russian city of Belgorod, about 40 km from the Ukrainian border, according to a source in the emergency services today (Tuesday) to Russian news agencies.
The source said that the march fell yesterday afternoon (Monday), causing minor damage to the airport fence, without causing any injuries, indicating that the security authorities are conducting an investigation into the circumstances of the accident.
Belgorod Airport has been closed since the launch of the special military operation on February 24, 2022, under the flight restriction regime in southern Russia and some central regions.
In another context, the Russian authorities arrested today a Ukrainian intelligence agent in Zaporozhye province, who was providing it with information about Russian army gatherings in the province, parts of which are still under the control of Kiev forces, according to Russia Today channel.
The channel quoted the official as saying that the arrested man was transmitting information about military gatherings and sensitive civilian sites in the Kherson and Zaporozhye provinces to the Ukrainian authorities, adding that he was aware that this information would be used to commit terrorist acts and bomb the sites to which he was directed.
He pointed out that investigators are ascertaining his involvement in the bombing of the city of Melitopol by Ukrainian forces on March 29 and April 2, explaining that the arrested is a 22-year-old Russian citizen who arrived in Zaporozhye province, commissioned by the Ukrainian Intelligence Department to collect and transfer information, and he may be sentenced to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Okaz (Jeddah) @okaz_online
