Civilian attacks 'must end immediately' in Ukraine, says UN

New York [US], January 17 (ANI): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday strongly condemned the attack on a large residential building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro at the weekend that has left at least 40 civilians dead, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country.

UN chief's Associate Spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay told during Monday’s regular briefing for correspondents in New York that Guterres had condemned Saturday evening’s missile strike adding that it was “another example of a suspected violation of the laws of war.”

"Civilians across the country faced a grim weekend, with air strikes have killed and injured dozens of civilians. Homes, schools and hospitals were also damaged in different parts of the country," said Tremblay.  "A strike hit a residential building in Dnipro on Saturday evening, in one of the deadliest attacks in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion last February," she added.

Guterres said this attack was another example of a "suspected blatant violation of the laws of war."

In a statement issued later in the day, the Spokesperson reiterated that “attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, violate international humanitarian law. They must end immediately.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said "the Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, condemned the immense civilian toll of the attack by the Russian Federation Armed Forces and called for an effective investigation of suspected war crimes and appropriate prosecution of suspects."

According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, at least 40 civilians, including 3 children, were killed. At least 75 people, 15 of them children, were injured, while in their homes. These numbers are expected to rise even further, as search and rescue operations continue by local authorities, OCHA said.

"More than 1,000 people have been made homeless as a result of the attack, according to our humanitarian colleagues on the ground. On the response side, our colleagues from UN agencies and non-governmental organizations have acted quickly to support the families," the UN spokesperson said.

"Further east, the situation remains critical, with scores of civilians killed and injured on both sides of the front line in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions," she added. (ANI)