From 24 February 2022, when the Russian Federation’s armed attack against Ukraine started, to 26 December 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 17,831 civilian casualties in the country: 6,884 killed and 10,947 injured. This included:
- a total of 6,884 killed (2,719 men, 1,832 women, 175 girls, and 216 boys, as well as 38 children and 1,904 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
- a total of 10,947 injured (2,364 men, 1,709 women, 229 girls, and 318 boys, as well as 253 children and 6,074 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
- In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 9,695 casualties (4,052 killed and 5,643 injured)
- On Government-controlled territory: 7,579 casualties (3,569 killed and 4,010 injured)
- On territory controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups: 2,116 casualties (483 killed and 1,633 injured)
- In other regions of Ukraine (the city of Kyiv, and Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytskyi, Poltava, Rivne, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Volyn, and Zhytomyr regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred: 8,136 casualties (2,832 killed and 5,304 injured)
- In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 9,695 casualties (4,052 killed and 5,643 injured)
Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles and air strikes.
OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration. This concerns, for example, Mariupol (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Lysychansk, Popasna, and Sievierodonetsk (Luhansk region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties.
Civilian casualties from 1 to 26 December 2022 (individual cases verified by OHCHR)
From 1 to 26 December 2022, OHCHR recorded 681 civilian casualties:
- 165 killed (72 men, 31 women, 4 boys, as well as 58 adults whose sex is yet unknown); and
- 516 injured (102 men, 91 women, 11 girls, 7 boys, as well as 3 children and 302 adults whose sex is yet unknown).
This included:
- 143 killed and 437 injured in 89 settlements in regions (parts of regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred (85 percent of the total); and
- 22 killed and 79 injured in 7 settlements in parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups (15 percent of the total).
Per type of weapon/incident:
- Explosive weapons with wide area effects: 144 killed and 493 injured (94 per cent);
- Mines and explosive remnants of war: 21 killed and 23 injured (6 per cent).
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine
Since 2014, OHCHR has been documenting civilian casualties in Ukraine. Reports are based on information that the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) collected through interviews with victims and their relatives; witnesses; analysis of corroborating material confidentially shared with HRMMU; official records; open-source documents, photo and video materials; forensic records and reports; criminal investigation materials; court documents; reports by international and national non-governmental organisations; public reports by law enforcement and military actors; data from medical facilities and local authorities. All sources and information are assessed for their relevance and credibility and cross-checked against other information. In some instances, corroboration may take time. This may mean that conclusions on civilian casualties may be revised as more information becomes available and numbers may change as new information emerges over time. Statistics presented in the current update are based on individual civilian casualty records where the “reasonable grounds to believe” standard of proof was met, namely where, based on a body of verified information, an ordinarily prudent observer would have reasonable grounds to believe that the casualty took place as described.
