UN body's report on Ukraine biased: Russia

Russia Tuesday said the latest report on Ukraine released by the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is "biased and even hypocritical".

"Its key message is that the government of Ukraine is permitted to legitimately use force to restore law and order in the east of the country," Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement, adding that it "de facto justifies the punitive operation".

He said the document, the fourth of its kind and covering the period of June 8 to July 15 this year, lacked the demand to end the punitive operation, Xinhua reported.

"Without it (the demand), speaking about human rights in Ukraine makes no sense," Lukashevich said.

The OHCHR report, released Monday, said the deteriorating situation in eastern Ukraine was impacting adversely on the rest of the country, with more than 100,000 people fleeing warring zones and being temporarily accommodated in other parts of the country.

It also estimated that, as of July 26, at least 1,129 people have been killed and 3,442 wounded.

Lukashevich also accused the report of excluding the cases of "detentions and beatings" of Russian journalists in Ukraine.

The spokesman urged the OHCHR and the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission not to justify "either directly or indirectly" the violence being conducted by Kiev, but to secure a ceasefire and help initiate peace talks within the country.