- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has verified a total of 5,587 civilian deaths during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as of 14 August, but says real numbers are likely to be much higher. The UN reports at least 12 million people have fled their homes. Nearly 9,000 Ukrainian military have been killed according to their sources. US intelligence estimates c.15,000 Russian military fatalities.
- The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office has documented more than 14,000 alleged Russian war crimes and identified over 600 suspects.
- The UN human rights office has expressed concern about plans by Russian-backed authorities to try Ukrainian prisoners of war, which is itself a war crime.
- Over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in Russian-held territory. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other and the UN plans to conduct a fact-finding mission.
- Inspectors from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency have made their first inspection of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia power plant and are to maintain a presence there. Fighting continues around it, workers are effectively hostages, and the EU is giving more than five million anti-radiation tablets to Ukraine in case of a radiation leak.
- Dattalion is a women-led voluntary project collating stories and images about events in Ukraine to help the media and, potentially, war crimes prosecutors. You can support their mission with a monthly membership as a ‘Soldier’, ‘Sergeant’ or ‘Lieutenant’ https://www.patreon.com/dattalion
- Ukrainian women have been advised on the risks of targeting by traffickers. The National Crime Agency revealed that 10 British child sex offenders travelled to Poland early in the war under the guise of providing humanitarian aid.
- The Royal United Services have identified 450 foreign components on which many of the Russian army’s most destructive weapons rely. Most are manufactured in the US, but others originate in Japan, Germany, France and Britain which have also heavily sanctioned Russia since the invasion.
- In the six months since the invasion, the UK has given shelter to almost 115,000 Ukrainians.
- The Minister for Refugees, Richard Harrington, has called for a doubling of the £350 per month paid to hosts under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. Some hosts are yet to receive any payments.
- Under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, families only committed to housing people for six months. A crisis is looming as refugees reach the end of their stay: an Office for National Statistics survey in August found that a quarter of hosts did not want to continue. A number of refugees have already presented as homeless.
- The Scottish Government’s Super Sponsor Scheme which allowed Ukrainian families to move to Scotland without first finding a host family has been temporarily closed to ensure that there is sufficient accommodation for those already granted a visa.
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