The United Nations Friday deplored the horrendous civilian cost of the war in Ukraine, as the country marked 500 days since the beginning of Russia’s large-scale invasion. The UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said it was able to confirm that more than 9,000 civilians, including over 500 children, have been killed since Russia’s February 24, 2022 attack.
Actual numbers of civilian casualties are considerably much higher, as many reports of individual civilian casualties in certain locations are still pending corroboration. Such locations include Mariupol (Donetsk region), and Lysychansk, Popasna, and Sievierodonetsk (Luhansk region).
“Today we mark another grim milestone in the war that continues to exact a horrific toll on Ukraine’s civilians,” said Noel Calhoun, the deputy head of the Human Rights Monitoring Mission.
From 24 February 2022, which marked the start of the large-scale armed attack by the Russian Federation, to 30 June 2023, the UN has recorded 25,170 civilian casualties in 1,504 settlements of Ukraine, including 9,177 killed and 15,993 injured. 1,630 civilian casualties among children in Ukraine were recorded with 535 killed and 1,095 injured.
The regions with the highest numbers of civilian casualties have been: Donetska, Kharkivska, Kyivska, Khersonska, and Luhanska oblasts.
The HRRMU noted that overall monthly casualty figures decreased earlier this year comparing to 2022, but in May and June the average number of casualties went up again.
The mission cited the recent deadly attack on June 27 when 13 civilians, including four children, died in an early evening missile strike on a busy shopping area in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. Just days later another missile strike claimed 10 civilian lives in the western city of Lviv, making the last two weeks some of the deadliest since the Russian invasion began.
Overall, the highest monthly numbers of civilian casualties occurred in March and April 2022. The numbers then decreased gradually, reaching their lowest level in February 2023. In the first four months of 2023, the average number of civilian casualties per month was 696 casualties; however, in May-June 2023, the average number of civilian casualties increased to 836.
The UN human rights monitoring mission, which has worked in Ukraine since 2014, said three times as many civilians were killed in the last 500 days as during the entire previous eight years of hostilities in eastern Ukraine.
The humanitarian situation in Ukraine deteriorated rapidly in 2022, after the Russian Federation’s invasion escalated eight years of conflict in the east into a full-scale war. The devastation and destruction have been staggering, with some 40 percent of Ukraine’s population now in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.
At least 17.6 million people in Ukraine require humanitarian aid this year. Among them are 3.2 million children.
The war in Ukraine has further escalated in 2023, with hostilities ravaging communities in the east and south and taking a heavy toll on civilians living close to the front line. The war also has had a devastating impact on the mental health and well-being of children, including millions who had to flee for safety, whether internally or outside.
The war has forced many to flee Ukraine, resulting in a humanitarian crisis of a scale not witnessed in Europe for decades. The war in Ukraine has led to one of the two major displacement crises in the world - the other being the Syrian civil war. As of July, at least 11.3 million people are displaced by the war. More than 6.3 million refugees have sought refuge in foreign countries. At least 5 million people are displaced within Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created one of the largest humanitarian disasters globally. Violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law occurring in the course of the ongoing armed attack are widespread. Millions of civilians fear for their lives. People in Ukraine continue to be killed, wounded and deeply traumatized by the violence.
Further information
Full text: Ukraine: Civilian casualties - 24 February 2022 to 30 June 2023, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, published July 7, 2023
https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/07/ukraine-civilian-casualties-24-february-2022-30-june-2023
Full text: The Ukraine war reaches another grim milestone, United Nations in Ukraine, press release, published July 7, 2023
https://ukraine.un.org/en/239136-ukraine-war-reaches-another-grim-milestone