Over 12,000 civilians killed in Ukraine during Russia's full-scale war, UN says

Over 12,340 civilian deaths have been recorded in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) Izumi Nakamitsu said during a U.N. Security Council meeting on Dec. 20.

The U.N. report on casualties comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin escalates threats against Ukrainian cities, including threatening on Dec. 19 to launch an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) against Kyiv.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded civilian casualties in Ukraine from Feb. 24, 2022 to Nov. 30, 2024, Nakamitsu said. Over 12,340 civilians were killed and more than 27,836 were wounded during that period.

The U.N. found that in 2024, aerial bombs and long-range weapons caused a greater number of casualties than in the previous year, Nakamitsu said.

Aerial bombs killed 341 civilians and wounded 1,803 between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, according to data from the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. The figures represent a threefold increase in deaths and sixfold increase in injuries from 2023.

The OHCHR also found that 42% of Ukrainian civilian casualties in the month of November resulted from Russian attacks with long-range weapons, a "significant increase" from prior months.

Russia intensified aerial strikes against densely populated Ukrainian cities in October and November 2024. Drone strikes surged to record levels and Russia dropped at least 100 guided bombs per day nearly every day between Nov. 1-20.

Repeated attacks against residential neighborhoods in large cities, including Kharkiv, Odesa, and Sumy, led to high numbers of killed and injured victims.

Russia on Nov. 21 launched an Oreshnik missile against the city of Dnipro, supposedly as a response to the U.S. and the U.K. lifting restrictions on Ukraine's long-range strikes inside Russia.

Putin has since used threats of Oreshnik strikes to intimidate Ukraine and scare off Western support for Kyiv.

Nakamitsu said that Russia's escalating attacks are cause for "grave concerns."

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