More than 10,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, with about half of recent deaths occurring far behind the front lines, the UN Human Rights Office said.
The UN human rights mission in Ukraine, which has dozens of monitors in the country, said it expects the real toll to be "significantly higher" than the official tally since corroboration work is ongoing.
This includes events in the first months after the invasion, such as the battle for control of Mariupol, where residents reported high civilian casualties.
"Ten thousand civilian deaths is a grim milestone for Ukraine," said Danielle Bell, who heads the monitoring mission.
"The Russian Federation's war against Ukraine, now entering into its 21st month, risks evolving into a protracted conflict, with the severe human cost being painful to fathom," she said.
The vast majority of the deaths have been caused by explosive weapons with a wide-area impact such as shells, missiles and cluster munitions, the United Nations said.
Close to half of the deaths in the last three months have occurred far beyond the front lines, the UN said, attributing this to Russian forces' use of long-range missiles and the late explosion of abandoned ordinances.
Older people who may be unable or unwilling to relocate to safer places make up a disproportionate amount of those killed in Ukraine, the UN data showed.
More than a third of the victims whose ages were confirmed were over 60, it showed, whereas this age group constitutes just a quarter of the total population.
Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians.
Meanwhile, European Council President Charles Michel has visited Kyiv in a gesture of support as Ukraine marks ten years since the start of mass protests that toppled a Moscow-backed president and set Kyiv on a resolute pro-Western course.
"Good to be back in Kyiv - among friends," Mr Michel said on social media platform X, posting a picture of himself shaking hands with the European Union's Ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, at Kyiv's railway station.
Good to be back in Kyiv – among friends. pic.twitter.com/w9cAQzqYyo
— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) November 21, 2023
In eastern Ukraine, two people were killed and six were wounded in overnight Russian missile attacks and shelling in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, Ukrainian officials have said.
Missiles hit a hospital in the Donetsk town of Selydove and a coal mine, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on the Telegram messaging service.
"Two buildings of the hospital were damaged, six civilians were injured. There may be victims under the rubble, search operations continue," Mr Klymenko said.
One worker was killed in the attack on the coal mine, he said.
"Four buildings, 19 vehicles and a power line were damaged. Thirty-nine miners were trapped underground. As of now, all miners have been brought to the surface," he said.
Invading Russian forces have occupied much of Donetsk and Russia has said it intends to take over the whole region.
In Kharkiv, one person was killed in Russian shelling, the region's governor, Oleh Synehubov, said.
Reuters was not able to verify the reports.
Russia: Co-existence not possible with Ukraine 'regime'
Russia cannot co-exist with the present "regime" in Kyiv, a senior Russian official said, reaffirming the goals of what President Vladimir Putin calls a special military operation to "demilitarise" Ukraine.
"The current regime (in Kyiv) is absolutely toxic, we do not see any options for co-existence with it at the moment," Russian Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told reporters in Moscow.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out talks with Mr Putin, while leaving the door open to talks with Russia.
Mr Miroshnik's post was created to collect evidence of alleged Ukrainian crimes against civilians.
Moscow also faces allegations by Kyiv and its allies that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine. Moscow denies the allegations.
Mr Miroshnik, a former official in the Russian-backed self-styled separatist administration of the 'Luhansk People's Republic' in eastern Ukraine, accused Ukrainian forces of committing crimes against civilians in regions that Moscow now says it has annexed.
Ukraine is carrying out its own investigations into alleged Russian war crimes on its territory and accuses Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in air strikes. Russia denies this.
A UN-mandated body has chronicled war crimes it says Russian forces have committed in Ukraine, and the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin for the illegal deportation of hundreds of children from Ukraine.
Russia, which does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, has rejected the allegations against Putin.
Mr Miroshnik said Russia could resist NATO as long as was needed to defeat Ukrainian forces and that the West would eventually lose interest, meaning the Kyiv leadership would collapse.
Kyiv says it will continue fighting until the last Russian soldier has left its territory, and its Western allies have said they will continue to support Ukraine.
Berlin announces new military aid package for Ukraine
Germany will support Ukraine with another military aid package worth €1.3 billion that will include four additional IRIS-T air defence units, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in Kyiv.
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So far, Berlin has pledged to supply Kyiv with eight IRIS-T systems, three of which have been delivered. Ukraine uses them mainly to guard against Russian missile attacks.
The support package will also comprise 20,000 155mm artillery shells as well as anti-tank mines, Mr Pistorius told reporters, speaking alongside his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov.
"I am sure this will help you in your fight against the Russian aggression," he said. "This underlines that we stand with Ukraine sustainably and reliably."
The artillery shells come on top of 140,000 155mm rounds Germany has pledged to deliver next year, Mr Pistorius noted.
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