Russian authorities' refusal to say duty for a single civilian demise throughout its invasion of Ukraine has drawn comparisons to the nation's army operations in war-torn Syria.

Regardless of Russia's denial that it has focused civilians throughout its invasion of Ukraine, human rights organizations and the United Nations have tallied a rising demise toll on the nation's inhabitants. Equally, Russian officers have denied they're accountable for inflicting any civilian deaths in Syria, opposite to unbiased monitoring by nongovernmental organizations.

Between February 24 and March 15, the Workplace of the U.N. Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights recorded 1,900 civilian casualties in Ukraine, together with 726 folks killed, amongst them 52 kids. Many of the deaths have been brought on by explosive weapons in populated areas, in response to the U.N. company.

Ukrainian Refugees
Individuals wait at a practice station in Przemysl, Poland, for trains heading again to war-torn Ukraine on March 22, 2022. Practically two-thirds of the greater than 3 million folks to have fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion final month have come to Poland, which shares a 310-mile border with its japanese neighbor.

Studies have emerged that Russian forces are intentionally focusing on civilian areas, together with a theater within the metropolis of Mariupol getting used as a bomb shelter that had the phrase "kids" written outdoors in Russian. President Joe Biden and different world leaders have accused Russia of committing conflict crimes.

"Russia's armed forces do not bomb cities and cities," Russian Overseas Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mentioned final week, echoing the identical denial made by different officers.

At the moment, Russia has not publicly accepted duty for a single civilian demise in Ukraine, writes researcher Lily Hamourtziadou within the journal The Dialog.

Hamourtziadou wrote that Russia's posturing within the battle with Ukraine has parallels to Syria, which has seen an ongoing civil conflict since 2011. Russia has backed authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad in opposition to his opponents, serving to the authoritarian chief keep in energy.

Since intervening in Syria in 2015, greater than 45,000 airstrikes have been carried out by the Russian army, in response to Airwars, a nongovernmental group documenting the nation's actions in Syria and the Center East.

Much like Ukraine, Russian officers denied experiences in 2016 that its air drive bombed a hospital in Syria run by French charity Médecins Sans Frontières.

Airwars has tracked as much as 23,000 civilian deaths and 41,000 accidents from Russian army motion in Syria since 2015. The group mentioned its determine is a conservative estimate, nevertheless, Russia has not accepted duty for any citizen deaths in Syria.

Moscow has "but to concede a single casualty," in response to the group.

Rosemary DiCarlo, the U.N.'s under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, mentioned that civilian deaths in Ukraine couldn't be denied and referred to as for an investigation.

"Civilians are entitled to safety in opposition to the hazards arising from army operations," she mentioned in an announcement. "Worldwide humanitarian regulation is crystal clear."

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian authorities for remark.