The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) has registered 6,731 civilian victims of the war in Ukraine since February 24, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said.

She said her Office has recorded 6,731 civilian casualties since 24 February. “We know the real figures are considerably higher,” she continued, pointing out that most of those casualties were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide effects in populated areas. She went on to say that her office is also documenting the devastating consequences of the conflict on other human rights, including incidents of families shot as they tried to escape in convoys and the arbitrary detention and possible forced disappearances of civilians by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups. Bachelet told the UN Security Council in New York on Thursday.

She noted that in areas around Kyiv since the end of February, for about five weeks, Russian troops have been targeting male civilians who were considered suspicious.

Bachelet pointed out that men had been detained, beaten, executed without trial, and in some cases taken to Belarus and Russia.

According to her, in other regions controlled by the Russian military and affiliated armed groups, such as Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, the OHCHR continues to document arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances of local authorities, journalists, civil society activists, retired servicemen and armed forces, and other civilians by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups.

As of May, she said, her office documented 187 cases, of which five victims were found dead.

In addition, the OHCHR also documented eight possible and enforced disappearances of people believed to be pro-Russian in government-controlled territory.