2025 deadliest year for Ukrainian civilians since first year of Russia's full-scale war, UN says
The year 2025 was the deadliest year for civilians in Ukraine since 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) reported on Jan. 12.
In the previous year, the war in Ukraine killed 2,514 civilians and injured 12,142 over the past year, according to the U.N. monitoring group's verified data. The total number of Ukrainian civilians killed or injured in 2025 was 31% higher than in 2024 and 70% higher than in 2023.
"The 31% increase in civilian casualties compared with 2024 represents a marked deterioration in the protection of civilians," HRMMU Danielle Bell said.
"Our monitoring shows that this rise was driven not only by intensified hostilities along the frontline, but also by the expanded use of long-range weapons, which exposed civilians across the country to heightened risk."
Despite a diplomatic push from Washington following U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration in January 2025, Russia sharply escalated drone and missile attacks against Ukrainian cities that spring — and maintained its the campaign of aerial destruction and record-shattering strikes month after month.
The deadliest attack came in November, when Russia launched long-range missiles against the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, killing 38 civilians and injuring at least 99 others. Eight children were killed.
Russian attacks on Ukrainian-controlled territory accounted for 97% of the casualties in 2025, HRMMU said. Over 60% of the casualties occurred in front-line areas, with older individuals in those regions suffering in higher numbers. People over 60 years old represented 45% of civilians killed in front-line areas, while only making up 25% of the population.
Civilian casualties due to Russian short-range drones also increased in 2025, HRMMU found.
"The expanded use of short-range drones has rendered many areas near the frontline effectively uninhabitable," Bell said.
"As essential services shut down and infrastructure is destroyed, it has become too dangerous in some communities even to provide emergency medical care or evacuate civilians."
Over the past year, Russia has scaled up its deployment of cheap, high-precision first-person view (FPV) drones along the front lines, targeting civilians in systematic attacks.
HRMMU also noted Russia's escalating campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, which has led to prolonged power outages in freezing temperatures. The attacks have disrupted civilians' access to water, electricity, heating, and food.
Russia's attacks on Ukraine's energy grid have put civilians at "heightened risk" and illustrate how "the consequences of the war are now felt by civilians far beyond the frontline," Bell said.
The first 12 months of Russia's full-scale invasion remain the deadliest thus far, with the U.N. documenting at least 8,006 civilians killed and 13,287 wounded between February 2022 and February 2023.
HRMMU's latest report on civilian casualties comes a month after the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) revealed that Russia's war in Ukraine was the world's deadliest conflict in 2025.
The project documented deaths of soldiers and civilians, concluding that the Trump administration's efforts to achieve a ceasefire "bore no fruit."
