Civilian casualty update 12 July 2022: Ukraine

From 4 a.m. on 24 February 2022, when the Russian Federation’s armed attack against Ukraine started, to 24:00 midnight on 11 July 2022 (local time), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 11,544 civilian casualties in the country: 5,024 killed and 6,520 injured. This included:

• a total of 5,024 killed (1,905 men, 1,316 women, 141 girls, and 161 boys, as well as 41 children and 1,460 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
• a total of 6,520 injured (1,319 men, 962 women, 144 girls, and 202 boys, as well as 187 children and 3,706 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
  • In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 6,535 casualties (2,951 killed and 3,584 injured)
    • On Government-controlled territory: 5,433 casualties (2,730 killed and 2,703 injured)
    • On territory controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups: 1,102 casualties (221 killed and 881 injured)
  • In other regions of Ukraine (the city of Kyiv, and Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk and Zhytomyr regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred: 5,009 casualties (2,073 killed and 2,936 injured)

Civilian casualties in Ukraine from 24 February to 11 July 2022 (individual cases verified by OHCHR), per month

Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile 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 11 July 2022

From 1 to 11 July 2022, OHCHR recorded 525 civilian casualties:

• 159 killed (32 men, 42 women, 5 girls, 5 boys, and 75 adults whose sex is yet unknown); and
• 366 injured (64 men, 82 women, 9 girls, 13 boys, and 198 adults whose sex is yet unknown).

This included:

• 24 killed and 86 injured in 7 settlements in parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups (21 percent of the total); and
• 135 killed and 280 injured in 60 settlements in regions (parts of regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred (79 percent of the total):

Per type of weapon/incident:

• – Explosive weapons with wide area effects: 157 killed and 364 injured (99 per cent);
• – Mines and explosive remnants of war: 2 killed and 2 injured (1 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 andnumbers may change as new information emerges over time.

Since 24 February 2022, in the context of the Russian Federation’s armed attack against Ukraine, HRMMU has been unable to visit places of incidents and interview victims and witnesses there. All other sources of information have been extensively used, including HRMMU contact persons and partners in places where civilian casualties occurred. 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.