page_title: War in Donbass
section_title: Humanitarian concerns
hierarchical_section_title: War in Donbass / Humanitarian concerns
caption_attribution_description: English: Apartment building destroyed during War in Donbass. Lysychansk, Lugansk region.Українська: Місто Лисичанськ. Поруйнований житловий будинок внаслідок війни на сході України, фото 04.08.2014 Русский: Жилой дом, разрушенный в ходе войны в Донбассе. Лисичанск, Луганская область.
context_page_description: The War in Donbass is an armed conflict in the Donbass region of Ukraine, part of the Ukrainian crisis and the broader Russo-Ukrainian War. From the beginning of March 2014, in the aftermath of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution and the Euromaidan movement, protests by Russia-backed anti-government separatist groups took place in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine, collectively called the "Donbass". These demonstrations, which followed the February–March 2014 annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, and which were part of a wider group of concurrent protests across southern and eastern Ukraine, escalated into an armed conflict between the separatist forces of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, and the Ukrainian government. While the initial protests were largely native expressions of discontent with the new Ukrainian government, Russia took advantage of them to launch a co-ordinated political and military campaign against Ukraine. Russians citizens led the separatist movement in Donetsk from April until August 2014, and were supported by volunteers and materiel from Russia.
context_section_description: The United Nations observed an "alarming deterioration" in human rights in territory held by insurgents affiliated with the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic. The UN reported growing lawlessness in the region, documenting cases of targeted killings, torture, and abduction, primarily carried out by the forces of the Donetsk People's Republic. The UN also reported threats against, attacks on, and abductions of journalists and international observers, as well as the beatings and attacks on supporters of Ukrainian unity. Russia criticised these reports, and said that they were "politically motivated". A report by Human Rights Watch said "Anti-Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine are abducting, attacking, and harassing people they suspect of supporting the Ukrainian government or consider undesirable...anti-Kiev insurgents are using beatings and kidnappings to send the message that anyone who doesn't support them had better shut up or leave". There were also multiple instances of beatings, abductions, and possible executions of local residents by Ukrainian troops, such as Oleh Lyashko's militia and the Aidar territorial defence battalion. Amnesty International noted that pro-Kiev volunteer battalions are increasingly blocking humanitarian aid into eastern Ukraine. In August, Igor Druz, a senior advisor to pro-Russian insurgent commander Igor Girkin, said that "On several occasions, in a state of emergency, we have carried out executions by shooting to prevent chaos. As a result, our troops, the ones who have pulled out of Sloviansk, are highly disciplined". By the end of 2015, there had been 79 places in the combined DPR and LPR territory where abducted civilians and prisoners of war were held.
  A report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released on 28 July 2014 said that based on "conservative estimates", at least 1,129 civilians had been killed since mid-April during the fighting, and at least 3,442 had been wounded. In addition, the report found that at least 750 million US dollars worth of damage has been done to property and infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. Human Rights Watch said that Ukrainian government forces, pro-government paramilitaries, and the insurgents had used unguided Grad rockets in attacks on civilian areas, stating that "The use of indiscriminate rockets in populated areas violates international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, and may amount to war crimes". The New York Times reported that the high rate of civilian deaths had "left the population in eastern Ukraine embittered toward Ukraine's pro-Western government", and that this sentiment helped to "spur recruitment" for the insurgents. By early January 2015, the number of deaths caused by the war had risen to 4,707, despite the signing of the Minsk Protocol in early September 2014.
  By early August 2014, at least 730,000 had fled fighting in the Donbass and left for Russia. This number, much larger than earlier estimates, was given by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The number of internal refugees rose to 117,000. By the start of September, after a sharp escalation over the course of August, the number of people displaced from Donbass within Ukraine more than doubled to 260,000. The number of refugees that fled from Donbass to Russia rose to 814,000. Despite two months of a shaky ceasefire established by the Minsk Protocol, the number of refugees displaced from Donbass in Ukraine escalated sharply to 466,829 in mid November.
  By April 2015, the war had caused at least 1.3 million people to become internally displaced within Ukraine. In addition, more than 800,000 people had fled Ukraine, with over 659,143 to Russia, 81,100 to Belarus, and thousands more to other countries.
  According to another report by the UN OHCHR, over 3 million people continued to live in the Donbass conflict zone as of March 2016. This was said to include 2.7 million who lived in DPR and LPR-controlled areas, and 200,000 in Ukrainian-controlled areas adjacent to t
caption: Damaged building in Lysychansk, 4 August 2014
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