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During the ongoing war between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatist insurgents in the Donbass region of Ukraine that began in April 2014, many international organisations and states noted a deteriorating humanitarian situation in the conflict zone. A report by the United Nations said there had been an "alarming deterioration" in human rights in territory held by insurgents affiliated with the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Lugansk People's Republic (LPR). The UN reported growing lawlessness in the region, documenting cases of targeted killings, torture, and abduction, primarily carried out by the forces of the Donetsk People's Republic. The UN also reported threats against, attacks on, and abductions of journalists and international observers, as well as the beatings and attacks on supporters of Ukrainian unity. A report by Human Rights Watch said "Anti-Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine are abducting, attacking, and harassing people they suspect of supporting the Ukrainian government or consider undesirable...anti-Kiev insurgents are using beatings and kidnappings to send the message that anyone who doesn't support them had better shut up or leave". There were incidents of violence against local civilians by Ukrainian troops. In August, Igor Druz, a senior advisor to insurgent commander Igor Girkin, said that "On several occasions, in a state of emergency, we have carried out executions by shooting to prevent chaos. As a result, our troops, the ones who have pulled out of Sloviansk, are highly disciplined".

In a report from the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission, Ivan Šimonović, UN Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights, wrote about illegal detention, abduction and intimidation of election officials, and called for urgent action to prevent a Balkans-style war. He also warned of a humanitarian crisis due to a failure of social services in the region, and an exodus of people from affected areas. He said, "Donetsk is on the verge of collapse of social services" due to a shortage of crucial supplies, such as medicines like insulin. A medicine shortage was confirmed by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), "The results of a psychosocial assessment of children in Donetsk Oblast in Eastern Ukraine are deeply troubling ... and indicate that about half of all children aged 7-18 have been directly exposed to adverse or threatening events during the current crisis." OSCE monitors spoke to refugees from Donetsk city in Zaporizhzhia. They said that men were "often not allowed" to leave the city, but were instead "forcibly enrolled in 'armed forces' of the so-called 'Donetsk People's Republic' or obliged to dig trenches". Notwithstanding, the The New York Times reported that the high rate of civilian deaths had "left the population in eastern Ukraine embittered toward Ukraine's pro-Western government", and that this sentiment helped to "spur recruitment" for the insurgents.

A report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released on 28 July said that based on "conservative estimates", at least 1,129 civilians had been killed since mid-April during the fighting, and at least 3,442 had been wounded. Also, the report found that at least 750 million US dollars worth of damage has been done to property and infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Abductions

Since the start of the war, many people have been taken hostage or abducted by insurgents affiliated with the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics. Apart from ordinary citizens taken as forced labour by the insurgents, these include journalists, city officials, local politicians, and members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). A particularly large number of hostages were taken by Vyacheslav Ponomarev in Sloviansk, though these were later freed when government forces recaptured the city.

Insurgents in Donetsk raided the city's International Committee of the Red Cross office at 19:00 on 9 May, and captured large stocks of medical supplies. They detained between seven and nine Red Cross workers. Those taken prisoner were accused of espionage, and held in the occupied Donetsk RSA building. They were later released on 10 May. One of the prisoners was found to have to been severely beaten. The OSCE mission in Ukraine lost contact with four of its monitors in Donetsk Oblast on 26 May, and another four in Luhansk Oblast on 29 May. Both groups were held for a month, until being freed on 27 and 28 June respectively.

In early July, Amnesty International published evidence of beatings, torture, and abduction of activists, protesters and journalists by insurgents in the Donbass region since the start of the unrest in April. It said that "while most abductions appear to have a 'political' motivation there is clear evidence that abduction and torture is being used by armed groups to exert fear and control over local populations". The report also said that some people had been abducted for ransom.

A report by the United Nations OHCHR that was released on 28 July said that insurgent groups continued "to abduct, detain, torture and execute people kept as hostages in order to intimidate and to exercise their power over the population in raw and brutal ways". The report documents that at least 812 people have been abducted by the insurgents since mid-April, and said that these include "local politicians, public officials and employees of the local coal mining industry", and that "the majority are ordinary citizens, including teachers, journalists, members of the clergy and students".

In early August, Amnesty International voiced concerned about actions of Radical Party leader and member of the Verkhovna Rada Oleh Lyashko. Lyashko is the leader of a pro-government paramilitary that participated in the war in Donbass. According to the Amnesty International report, Lyashko conducted a "continuing campaign of violence, intimidation and abduction against individuals". As an example of this "campaign", the report cited the abduction of DPR defence minister Igor Kakidzyanov. The abduction was recorded by Lyashko's forces. In the video, Kakidzyanov was seen being abducted, and later, after having been captured, "dressed only in his underwear with two bleeding cuts to his body".

In mid August, there were reports that members of the pro-government Aidar Battalion paramilitary had taken hostages and demanded ransom for their release. In one incident, a man from Polovynkyne in Luhansk Oblast was accused of "separatism" by members of the battalion, and taken hostage. The paramilitaries said that they would kill him unless his wife paid 10,000 US dollars in ransom. She did this, and the man was released. OSCE monitors said that "the man's head was heavily swollen, bloody, and bruised" and he had "bruises and smaller wounds on his arms and legs". Another man was taken captive by members of Aidar Battalion in Shchastya on 13 August. Also accused of "separatism", his current whereabouts are unknown.

A statement released on 22 August by Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Antanas Linkevičius said that the Lithuanian honorary consul in Luhansk, Mykola Zelenec, was abducted by pro-Russian insurgents and killed. Linkevičius defined the abductors as 'terrorists'. A report released on the same day by Human Rights Watch criticised government forces for "the serial arrests of Russian journalists in Ukraine" and "the actions of extremists like parliamentarian Oleh Lyashko, who has repeatedly abducted and abused people accused of involvement with the insurgency". Another August report by Human Rights Watch said that the Russian-backed insurgents were "arbitrarily detaining civilians and subjecting them to torture, degrading treatment, and forced labour", and that the insurgents "detained civilians for use as hostages".

Refugees

Some refugees from the Donbass fled to parts of western and central Ukraine, such as Poltava Oblast. Around 2,000 families from the Donbass were reported to have taken refuge in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa. Other refugees from Luhansk fled to Russia during the week-long ceasefire that was declared 23 June and in effect until 27 June. As of June, at least 110,000 people had left Ukraine for Russia in the wake of the conflict, according to a United Nations report. Refugees clustered around Rostov-on-Don, with 12,900 people, including 5,000 children, housed in public buildings and tent camps there. Similarly, the report stated that around 54,400 are internally displaced people within Ukraine itself.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 refugees arrived in Svyatogorsk from Sloviansk after the Ukrainian Armed Forces intensified shelling on the city at the end of May. Remaining residents of the besieged city were without water, gas, and electricity. Despite this, most residents remained. Russian officials said that 70,000 refugees had fled across the border into Russia since the fighting began. Starting on 30 May, at least 1,589 refugees from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts were provided temporary accommodation in railway stations and railway hotels by Southern Railways. The largest number of refugees, 1,409 people, stayed at Kharkiv-Pasazhyrskiy railway station.

Camps for internally displaced persons were established in Kharkiv Oblast. OSCE monitors visited one camp at Havryshi, in Bohodukhiv Raion, after northern Donetsk Oblast had been retaken by government forces. Some of those displaced people had visited Sloviansk, and said that there was a lack of water, electrical power, food, and that banks were not operating. Some decided to continue to stay in the camp until conditions in Sloviansk improved, whereas others decided to return. By 16 July, thirty-six people had returned to Sloviansk. Another seventy people were meant to return on the day. Some sixty-five from other conflict areas also checked into the camp. According to railway operators, some 3,100 people used the Kharkiv–Sloviansk railway from 9–14 July. OSCE monitors also met with some refugees in Zaporizhzhia. The refugees said that many residents of Donetsk wanted to leave, but were unable to because they lacked the financial resources to do so. Trains leaving Donetsk were said to be filled to capacity, forcing many refugees to use private motorcars to escape.

According to a United Nations OHCHR report, the number of internal refugees created by conflict reached 101,617 on 25 July, an increase of more than 15,000 since 15 July. The report also said that at least 130,000 had fled to Russia. OSCE monitors visited Sievierodonetsk on 29 July, after the city had been recaptured by governments forces. According to the OSCE, the situation had normalised, and the city had not been "severely damaged" during the conflict. The city's mayor said that 40% of the 120,000 residents had fled during war.

By early August, at least 730,000 had fled fighting in the Donbass and left for Russia. This number, much larger than earlier estimates, was given by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Numbers of internal refugees rose to 117,000. By the start of September, after a sharp escalation over the course of August, the number of people displaced people from Donbass within Ukraine more than doubled to 260,000. The number of refugees that fled from Donbass to Russia rose to 814,000.

Having been inundated with refugees from the Donbass, the Russian government established a resettlement programme that was meant to encourage refugees to settle in "far-flung" parts of Russia. This programme included guarantees of employment, accommodation, pensions, and a path to Russian citizenship. According to a 31 August report by the administration of Rostov Oblast, 42,718 Donbass refugees had been transported to cities across Russia for resettlement.

Conditions in cities under siege

Monitors from the OSCE mission in Ukraine met with the self-proclaimed mayor of Sloviansk, Volodymyr Pavlenko, on 20 June. According to him, sewage systems in Sloviansk had collapsed, resulting in the release of least 10,000 litres of untreated sewage into the river Sukhyi Torets, a tributary of the Seversky Donets. He called this an "environmental catastrophe", and said that it had the potential to effect both Russia and Ukraine.

The DPR imposed martial law on 16 July.

OSCE monitors spoke to refugees from Luhansk city in early August. As government forces encircled the city, the refugees said that all electricity, water, and mobile connections were cut off. They said that the city was being shelled non-stop from 04:00 to 02:00 each day, with only a brief lull from 02:00 to 04:00. All shops were closed, and were few supplies remained in the city. Bread was nowhere to be found, and tap water was undrinkable. Anyone that could flee city had done so, and only those without money stayed. Corpses were buried in back gardens, as no undertakers were operating.

Government forces shelled the DPR-occupied SBU building in the city of Donetsk on 7 August. In doing this, however, a public hospital and residential buildings fewer than 500 metres (550 yd) from that building were hit by the shells. The entire second floor of the hospital was destroyed, and patients were traumatised. One civilian at the hospital died. A report by The New York Times said that insurgents fired mortars and Grad rockets from residential areas, and then quickly moved. This caused return fire by government forces to hit those areas, usually an hour later, after the insurgents had already left.

OSCE monitors spoke with another group of refugees on 11 August, this time from Pervomaisk. According to the refugees, most people had fled Pervomaisk, with only 10,000 of the city's 80,000 inhabitants remaining. They said that the city was under heavy shelling by government forces from 22 July, that almost all blocks of flats had been damaged, and that only 30% of detached houses remained standing. They also said that at least 200 people had been killed. After having spoken to the refugees, OSCE monitors contacted the mayor of Pervomaisk, who confirmed the reports of the refugees.

A report by The New York Times said that pro-Ukrainian unity residents in Donetsk city were intimidated by the insurgents. Another report by American radio network NPR said that some insurgents in Donetsk have used carjackings, forced labour, and abuse to intimidate those that oppose them, and that some local residents lived in fear of the insurgents. On the other hand, a local man interviewed by Die Welt said that 70% of local residents support the insurgents.

War crimes

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the arbiter of international humanitarian law, the conflict is a "war", meaning that war crimes investigations can be held. A press release from the organisation said "These rules and principles apply to all parties to the non-international armed conflict in Ukraine, and impose restrictions on the means and methods of warfare that they may use".

Human Rights Watch said that Ukrainian government forces, pro-government paramilitaries, and the insurgents had used unguided Grad rockets in attacks on civilian areas, stating that "The use of indiscriminate rockets in populated areas violates international humanitarian law, or the laws of war, and may amount to war crimes". It also stated that pro-Russian insurgents "failed to take all feasible precautions to avoid deploying in civilian areas" and in one case "actually moved closer to populated areas as a response to government shelling". Human Rights Watch documented Grad rocket use in civilian areas in the fighting at Donetsk railway station on 21 July, in Kuibyshivskyi district of Donetsk city on 19 July, and in Petrovskyi district of Donetsk city and Marynivka on 12 July. It called on all sides to stop using the "notoriously imprecise" Grad rockets.

Another report by Human Rights Watch said that the insurgents had been "running amok...taking, beating and torturing hostages, as well as wantonly threatening and beating people who are pro-Kiev". It also said that the insurgents had destroyed medical equipment, threatened medical staff, and occupied hospitals. A member of Human Rights Watch witnessed the exhumation of a "mass grave" in Sloviansk that was uncovered after insurgents retreated from the city.

DPR prime minister Aleksandr Zakharchenko said on 24 August that the Ukrainian government had used white phosphorus against the insurgents. Similar allegations had previously been reported in the Russian media from June onward. A 20 June report by Human Rights Watch analysed many of the videos, and determined that the substance shown in the videos was not white phosphorus. They also said that some of the videos cited by the Russian media were actually from a 2004 white phosphorus attack by American forces in Iraq.

Insurgents with bayonet-equipped automatic rifles in the city of Donetsk paraded captured Ukrainian soldiers through the streets on 24 August, the Independence Day of Ukraine. During the parade, Russian nationalistic songs were played from loudspeakers, and members of the crowd jeered at the prisoners with epithets like "fascist". Street cleaning machines followed the protesters, "cleansing" the ground they were paraded on. Human Rights Watch said that this was in clear violation of the common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. The article forbids "outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment". They further said that the parade "may be considered a war crime". In response, DPR Prime Minister Aleksandr Zakharchenko stated: "We did nothing against international law. The prisoners were not undressed or starved. Show me a single international law which prohibits parading prisoners." In a press-conference on 25 August, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he "did not see anything close to abuse" at the parade. On the following day, the insurgents tied a woman accused of being a spy to a lamppost. They wrapped her in a Ukrainian flag, and had passers-by spit, slap, and throw tomatoes at her.

Amnesty International released a report that documented war crimes committed by pro-government paramilitary territorial defence battalions on 8 September. The report focused on the Aidar Battalion, which operates in the northern part of Luhansk Oblast. Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty, met with Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on the same day, and urged him and his government to bring the territorial defence battalions "under effective lines of command and control, to promptly investigate all allegations of abuses and to hold those responsible to account". She said that the Ukrainian government should not "replicate the lawlessness and abuses that have prevailed in areas previously held by separatists", and that "the failure to stop abuses and possible war crimes by volunteer battalions risks significantly aggravating tensions in the east of the country and undermining the proclaimed intentions of the new Ukrainian authorities to strengthen and uphold the rule of law more broadly".

In late September, DPR forces found several unmarked graves in a coal mine near the village of Nyzhnia Krynka. They said that the graves contained the bodies of both DPR insurgents and civilians. OSCE monitors who went to the grave site said that they saw two dirt mounds, each containing two bodies. On the side of a road in the village, OSCE monitors reported that they saw a mound of dirt that "resembled a grave", had "a stick with a plaque" that said "died for Putin's lies", and which also listed the names of five people. Russian media have used this case to report "hundreds of unmarked graves of civilians executed by Ukrainian army".

Infrastructure damage

A report by the United Nations OHCHR found that at least 750 million US dollars worth of damage had been done to property and infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts by July. Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on 31 July that at least 2 billion hryvnia would be allocated to rebuild the Donbass.

Donetsk mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko told the OSCE on 4 September that large parts of Donetsk city had been "heavily damaged". He said that "enormous funds" would be needed to repair the damage, and that at least 35 schools had been completely destroyed by shelling.

Humanitarian response

An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the subject of the humanitarian situation in Donbass was held on 5 August at Russia's behest. Russia proposed that a "humanitarian mission" be sent to Ukraine to help alleviate the suffering of civilians in the region. Western governments responded hesitantly to the proposal, with British permanent representative to the United Nations Sir Mark Lyall Grant saying "It is deeply ironic that Russia should call for an emergency meeting of the council to discuss a humanitarian crisis largely of its own creation".

The government of Russia stated that it would send a "humanitarian convoy" to Luhansk city on 11 August, which was completely cut off from electrical power, water, food, and gas supplies amidst a government offensive on insurgents in the city. According to government spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the convoy would be dispatched under the "aegis of the Red Cross". Western governments were weary of the plan, which NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said was part of "developing the narrative and the pretext" for an invasion of Ukraine "under the guise of a humanitarian operation". The government of Ukraine said that the convoy would not be allowed to cross the border into Ukraine. Despite this, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that an agreement between Ukrainian and Russian government officials had been made, which would allow the convoy to drive to the border. At the border, the goods carried would be unloaded and put onto Ukrainian lorries.

The convoy left Moscow on 12 August, despite any evidence of a concrete agreement as to where the convoy would go or what it would carry. It consisted of 280 army lorries, painted white, and was said to carry 2,000 tonnes (2,200 short tons) of goods, "including grain, sugar, medicine, sleeping bags and power generators". A spokesman for the ICRC said that the Russian government had not provided "basic details" about the contents or route of the lorries. There were suggestions that the convoy was a "trojan horse operation to smuggle weapons to rebel militias rapidly running low on fuel and ammunition". Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, said that there were "three conditions" that had to be met by the Russian convoy: it should cross the border at a post controlled by the State Border Guard, it should be accompanied by ICRC workers, and it should clearly state its destination, its route, and what it carried. The Russian government said that its destination was Shebekino-Pletenivka border crossing, in Kharkiv Oblast. The convoy stopped in central Russia, about 300 kilometres (190 mi) from that border crossing, as Ukrainian Internal Affairs minister Arsen Avakov said "no humanitarian convoy of Putin's will be allowed to cross the territory". After some time, the convoy continued to Rostov Oblast. It headed toward insurgent-controlled Izvaryne border crossing, rather than the government-controlled Shebekino-Pletenivka in Kharkiv Oblast that had been agreed. It stopped in a field at Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, 28 kilometres (17 mi) from Izvaryne. Inspectors from the State Border Guard of Ukraine were sent to the field on 15 August to examine the contents of the convoy. The convoy drove to the insurgent-held Izvaryne border crossing on 17 August, after having been declared "legal" by the Ukrainian government. Despite this, the State Border Guard said that they had received no paperwork from the convoy, and the Red Cross had not yet given the convoy clearance to cross into Ukraine, citing "security issues". In a press briefing on 19 August, a spokesman for the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine said that an advance team of Red Cross workers was sent to the Izvaryne border crossing to asses the convoy, and to organise transport of its cargo to Luhansk. He also said that work on processing the convoy had been delayed because the DPR and LPR had not guaranteed the safety of the Red Cross workers that are meant to drive the convoy to its destination. The Red Cross gave the convoy instructions on how to deliver the goods to Luhansk on 21 August. The instructions dictated that the lorries should drive directly to the delivery point, and must be escorted by the ICRC at all times. Despite these instructions, the convoy entered Ukraine without customs clearance or an ICRC escort on 22 August. SBU chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said that this was tantamount to a "direct invasion", and the Red Cross said that it was not part of the moving convoy "in any way". The convoy was escorted into Ukraine by pro-Russian forces affiliated with New Russia. After delivering its cargo somewhere in Luhansk Oblast, the convoy crossed back into Russia at Izvaryne on 23 August.

A series of humanitarian convoys was sent by the Ukrainian government to Luhansk Oblast in August. The first convoys, from the cities of Kiev, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk, arrived at Starobilsk and Sievierodonetsk on 8 and 10 August respectively. A total of sixty lorry-loads of aid were sent. Workers with the State Emergency Service of Ukraine continued to operate in areas controlled by the pro-Russian forces, unimpeded by the LPR. They worked with the local Red Cross to distribute aid. Another group of convoys was sent by the Ukrainian government on 14 August. Seventy-five lorries bound for Luhansk and carrying 800 tonnes (880 short tons) of aid left from the same cities as the first group of convoys. According to the government, the aid was transferred to the Red Cross for distribution upon arrival into the combat zone.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia hoped to send a second "humanitarian convoy" to the Donbass conflict zone on 25 August. He stated "The fact that the first convoy eventually delivered aid with no excess or incidents gives us reason to hope that the second one will go much more smoothly". This convoy crossed into Ukraine at Izvaryne on 13 September. OSCE monitors said that it consisted of 220 lorries.

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Template:2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine

• War in Donbass
• Humanitarian aid