UN says Ukraine death toll doubled in 2 weeks

Number of casualties, which includes 20 children, rises to at least 2,086 in eastern part of country

GENEVA — The number of people killed in conflict-hit eastern Ukraine has nearly doubled in two weeks to 2,086, including at least 20 children, the UN human rights agency said Wednesday.

The toll, as of August 10, compared with 1,129 deaths counted on July 26 and should be considered “very conservative,” the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said.

At the end of July, the UN said that over 1,100 people had been killed in east Ukraine fighting since April.

Both sides in the conflict — rebels and government troops — have traded accusations over the mounting civilian death toll.

Rebels accuse government troops of deploying artillery against residential areas. Authorities deny that charge, but also complain of insurgents using apartment blocks as firing positions.

Meanwhile Wednesday, the Ukrainian Football Federation called upon the world and European football ruling bodies to punish the Russian Football Union for admitting clubs from Crimea, which Russia annexed.

A letter by Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU) chief Anatoly Konkov stated that “the Russian Football Union executive board illegally and arbitrarily incorporated the Ukrainian clubs from the Crimean peninsula.”

The statement came out hours after three clubs from the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in March from Ukraine, took part in the Russian Cup.

Last month, a Malaysian passenger plane was shot down over a town in eastern Ukraine.

Flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was carrying 298 people from 13 nations when it was shot down close to the Russian border, an area that has seen months of clashes between government troops and pro-Russia separatists.