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13 every day

Almost a thousand people have died since the start of the Ukraine ceasefire

That’s an average of 13 people a day.

ALMOST 1,000 PEOPLE have been killed in Ukraine since a truce came into effect in September, an average of 13 people a day, the United Nations said today, as the conflict in the east drags on.

Meanwhile, US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Kiev ahead of Friday’s anniversary of the start of the Maidan protests against the former pro-Kremlin regime which eventually sparked the conflict in the east.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he hoped for an announcement on further US assistance to Ukraine during Biden’s visit following a €42 million euro package announced in September which included €46 million of security assistance.

But Russia warned against the US arming Ukrainian forces, with the secretary of Russia’s national security council, Nikolai Patrushev, saying the conflict in eastern Ukraine ”will grow” if this happened.

The Kremlin denies Western and Ukrainian accusations that it is backing the separatist rebels with troops and military equipment but diplomatic relations have plunged to a low not seen since the Cold War over the seven-month conflict.

AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

MH17

International monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in the former Soviet state said today one of their teams had been shot at by a man in uniform.

The incident highlights continuing high tensions in eastern Ukraine, where government forces and pro-Russian rebels are fighting a drawn-out battle for territory.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine put the number of dead at 957 from September 5, when the ceasefire was signed, to November 18.

“The list of victims keeps growing. Civilians, including women, children, minorities and a range of vulnerable individuals and groups continue to suffer the consequences of the political stalemate in Ukraine,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement.

Counting the 298 people who died in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in July, the overall toll since mid-April, when fighting started, stood at 4,317 deaths as of Tuesday.

The report also detailed grave human rights abuses on both sides.

One Ukrainian soldier said his right arm, bearing a “Glory to Ukraine” tattoo, had been chopped off with an axe by rebels.

A separatist detained by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk said he had been suffocated with a plastic bag and repeatedly beaten.

It also highlighted the huge volume of people registered as displaced within Ukraine by the conflict, with the number soaring from 275,489 in mid-September to 466,829 as of Wednesday.

- © AFP, 2014

Read: Three men charged with plotting to behead a member of the public

Watch: Bill Cosby’s incredibly tense post-interview exchange with reporter

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