A/HRC/27/75 the armed groups, mostly civilians, was estimated at more than 460. The reign of fear and intimidation by the armed groups has been well-documented in the reports of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. Forced mobilization and threats of the death penalty were additional means to terrorize the population in the territory under the control of the armed groups. The case of Nadiya Savchenko, a former Ukrainian military pilot, allegedly detained and smuggled out of Ukraine by the armed groups and currently being held in pretrial detention in Voronezh in the Russian Federation, remains an issue of concern. She was charged with complicity in the killing of two Russian television journalists on 17 June 2014 near Luhansk. The court in Voronezh has extended her detention until 30 October 2014, and has ordered, reportedly against her will, that she undergo a psychiatric examination in the Serbsky Institute in Moscow. 17. The Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine received reports of armed groups preventing residents from leaving the regions, including by harassing them at checkpoints — where residents also reported being robbed — and firing at vehicles transporting fleeing civilians, and reportedly using them as human shields. In some places, older persons or persons with disabilities, who either decided to remain or who could not leave, were increasingly vulnerable without regular care and assistance providers. As of 30 July 2014, “safe corridors”, unilaterally established by the Ukrainian forces, have enabled people to leave the cities of Donetsk, Horlivka and Luhansk. Around 7,000 residents of Luhansk reportedly used the safe corridors in the early days of August. 18. The actions by the armed groups and the Ukrainian security operations also led to the destruction of, and damage to, infrastructure and civilian (including residential) structures such as water, communication, electricity and sewage treatment plants, which has caused the shutdown of essential supplies. That has severely impacted on the civilian population. Hospitals and clinics were also targeted and forced to close, with essential medicines and emergency medical services becoming either scarcer or unavailable. 19. Another matter of grave concern was the situation of the most vulnerable persons, including children in institutional care in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Efforts by the Ukrainian authorities to evacuate the children have been hindered by the armed groups, which have repeatedly illegally transferred institutionalized children to the Russian Federation. Sixty children were abducted from the Luhansk orphanage on 26 July 2014 and eight children with cerebral paralysis were kidnapped from the same facility on 8 August 2014. Prior to that, on 12 June 2014, 16 institutionalized children and two accompanying persons had been abducted by armed representatives of the so-called Donetsk “peoples’ republic” and taken to the Russian Federation. All the children have been returned. 20. One of the most immediate impacts of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine has been the increase in the number of internally displaced persons. About half the population of Luhansk and one third of the population of Donetsk have fled. There are more than 230,000 registered internally displaced persons from eastern Ukraine, the majority of whom are women and children. However, the actual number of unregistered internally displaced persons may be two to three times higher. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), around 378,000 people crossed the border into the Russian Federation in recent months. 21. Initially, the Government of Ukraine did not immediately react to the growing flood of people fleeing the violence in the eastern Ukraine, but rather relied on volunteers and the goodwill of the local receiving communities. However, as the numbers increased and the lack of coordination, planning and resources became evident, the State Emergency Service stepped in. Nonetheless, many problems remain to be addressed, including the need for a central registry to document internally displaced persons and for the central Government to ease access by internally displaced persons to social and economic rights. In that regard, it is crucial that the draft law on internally displaced persons, currently under review by 6