\n\n“To be precise, between Feb. 24 and May 30, at least 4,149 civilians were killed, including 267 children, according to the U.N. Human Rights Office. The true numbers of civilian casualties are much higher but can\u2019t yet be fully counted because of active fighting and lack of access to areas under the control of Russian forces, the organization added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The deaths bring the total number of civilians killed as a result of Russian military aggression in Ukraine to more than 7,500 over the course of eight years. Prior to Feb. 24, 3,404 civilians had been killed in the war in the Donbas, which broke out in April 2014. A vast majority of those casualties occurred in the first nine months of the war, when the fighting was at its peak. Several ceasefire agreements that never fully materialized kept the fighting at a simmer, with each side trading pot shots from well-worn trenches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lyman, a once-quiet town surrounded by a forested nature reserve and the bone-white chalk mountains, was once home to 20,000 residents \u2014 more than 43 percent of which were ethnic Russians, according to local data \u2014 until people began spilling out in recent weeks. It had largely avoided hostilities, save forsome street fighting with automatic rifles and grenade launchers in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now it\u2019s synonymous with Russia\u2019s brutal new military campaign in the Donbas, demolished homes and shattered lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can never go back. There is nothing left there for us,\u201d cried a woman brought to the Raihorodok staging area carrying several bags of clothing and possessions, her two young children in tow. \u201cThey are bombing everything. Our city is dying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her husband interjected: \u201cNo, the city is already dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family, who declined to be identified, said their home had been partially destroyed in mid-May. They spent nearly two weeks living in a neighbor\u2019s basement with little food and water, no toilet, electricity and gas until Holtsyev and the other rescuers came to pick them up. Everything they had to begin their new lives fit into four duffel bags. Asked about what they would do next and where they would go, the husband tried to speak but no words came out of his mouth; he just shook his head and shrugged.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n