Ukranian Ministry of Internal Affairs

Civilian death toll, Russian war crimes soar in Ukraine

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

The verified civilian death toll after more than nine months of war in Ukraine was approaching 7,000 last week, with more in the process of corroboration, independent monitors reported.

In a document released Dec. 5, 2022, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights pegged the figure at 6,702, adding 10,479 civilians had been injured since Russian troops invaded the country on Feb. 24, 2022.

At least 424 of the dead were children, the office said in its monthly update.

“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles and air strikes,” said the report, which covered developments through the month of November.

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 Danilo Krstanovic/Reuters/Alamy/2D1GJ50

Canadian peacekeepers challenged in the Balkans

STORY BY SHARON ADAMS

Although nearly as many Canadian military personnel served in the long and bloody civil wars in the Balkans as the 40,000 deployed to the war in Afghanistan, Canadians are much less familiar with their service and sacrifice.

In the Balkans, the Canadian Armed Forces was involved in the heaviest infantry combat since the Korean War, and the most intense air combat since the Second World War.

The CAF first went to the troubled area in 1991, shortly after the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia began to break up.

They went in as peacekeepers—but discovered there was no peace to keep.

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