U.N. report details Ukraine war casualties

UNITED NATIONS, June 18 (UPI) -- The conflict in Ukraine between government forces and separatists has cost 356 lives since mid-April, the United Nations said Wednesday.

Gianni Magazzeni, a senior U.N. human rights official, announced the figure as he presented the latest monthly report from 34 U.N. monitors in Ukraine.

The U.N. refugee agency noted 34,000 people have been displaced, fleeing from the fighting and increasing violence, crime, lawlessness and insecurity. According to the report:

"The escalation in criminal activity resulting in human rights abuses is no longer limited to targeting journalists, elected representatives, local politicians, civil servants and civil society activists. Abductions, detentions, acts of ill-treatment and torture, and killings by armed groups are now affecting the broader population of the two eastern regions."

The death count includes 257 civilians and 86 Ukrainian military personnel, including 49 aboard a Ukrainian military transport plane shot down on June 14 as it arrived at the airport at Luhansk, Ukraine. The deaths of 13 others remain unspecified.