Nearly 1,000 people have been killed in Ukraine since a September ceasefire agreement between the government in Kiev and separatists in the east of the country, the U.N. Human Rights Office revealed in a report.

The number pales, however, in comparison to the total death toll of at least 4,317, who died between mid-April and Nov. 18. Some of the 957 fatalities since the so-called Minsk Protocol may also have been killed prior to the signing, the Human Rights Office clarified.

The document was signed by the Ukrainian and Russian governments, as well as separatists representing the self-styled Donetsk and the Lugansk people's republics in eastern Ukraine, on Sept. 5. It mandated an immediate bilateral ceasefire to be monitored and verified by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Beyond the death toll, the U.N. report said 9,921 individuals had been wounded in the conflict; it further cited tallies by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, which said that as of Nov. 19, 466,829 people had been internally displaced due to the fighting, a number that rose sharply from the 275,489 internal refugees estimated on Sept. 18.

"Violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law persist," the Human Rights Office warned. "The situation in the conflict-affected area is becoming increasingly entrenched, with the total breakdown of law and order and the emergence of parallel governance systems in the territories under the control of the (separatists)."

The death toll includes the 298 people who died when a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was shot down over the country in July, the Guardian said. Passengers on Flight MH17 had come from 10 different nations; no U.S. citizens were on board.

"The report also detailed rights abuses on both sides," the British newspaper noted. "One Ukrainian soldier said his right arm, bearing a 'Glory to Ukraine' tattoo, had been severed with an axe by rebels. A separatist detained by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk said he was nearly suffocated with a plastic bag and repeatedly beaten."