UN reports over 18,000 civilian casualties since start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has released its monthly civilian casualties update for Ukraine.

According to the report, from 24 February 2022, when Russia’s armed attack against Ukraine began, to 9 January 2023, the UN recorded 18,096 civilian casualties in the country: 6,952 killed and 11,144 injured.

9,788 casualties (4,078 killed and 5,710 injured) were recorded in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, with the bulk of the casualties occurring on government-controlled territory.

8,308 casualties (2,874 killed and 5,434 injured) were reported in other regions of Ukraine.

Notably, the UN figures suggest 35 children killed and 254 injured.

The majority of the documented casualties resulted from “the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles and air strikes.”

The agency noted that the actual figures significantly exceeded those mentioned in the update as intense hostilities have led to delays in reporting and information gathering:

“The 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.”