UN says civilians still suffer in Ukraine, despite lull in fighting

The report by the UN's human rights office comes as the foreign ministers of Russia, France, Germany, and Ukraine were gathering in Paris on March 3 for talks on how to push the peace process forward. The Paris talks, assessing implementation of the Minsk accords that were signed a year ago, are aimed at reaching a political resolution to Ukraine's two-year-old civil war. UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein said on March 3 that full implementation of the Minsk accord was crucial "for resolving the human rights crisis in Ukraine." In an updated toll, the UN said at least 9, 160 people have been killed and 21,000 injured since the conflict began in 2014. The updated casualty figures include civilians, Ukrainian government troops, and armed fighters.