Civilian casualty update 24 July 2022: Ukraine

From 24 February 2022, when the Russian Federation’s armed attack against Ukraine started, to 24 July 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 12,272 civilian casualties in the country: 5,237 killed and 7,035 injured. This included:

• a total of 5,237 killed (2,019 men, 1,379 women, 143 girls, and 164 boys, as well as 41 children and 1,491 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
• a total of 7,035 injured (1,384 men, 1,017 women, 150 girls, and 215 boys, as well as 195 children and 4,074 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
  • In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 6,849 casualties (3,089 killed and 3,760 injured)
    • On Government-controlled territory: 5,668 casualties (2,848 killed and 2,820 injured)
    • On territory controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups: 1,181 casualties (241 killed and 940 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: 5,423 casualties (2,148 killed and 3,275 injured)

Civilian casualties in Ukraine from 24 February to 24July 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, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles 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 24 July 2022(individual cases verified by OHCHR)

From 1 to 24 July 2022, OHCHR recorded 1,165 civilian casualties:

• 285 killed (83 men, 73 women, 6 girls, 8 boys, and 115 adults whose sex is yet unknown); and
• 880 injured (128 men, 137 women, 15 girls, 25 boys, as well as 8 children and 567 adults whose sex is yet unknown).

This included:

• 241 killed and 735 injured in 103 settlements in regions (parts of regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred (84 percent of the total); and
• 44 killed and 145 injured in 14 settlements in parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups (16 percent of the total).

Per type of weapon/incident:

• Explosive weapons with wide area effects: 276 killed and 865 injured (98 per cent);
• Mines and explosive remnants of war: 9 killed and 15 injured (2 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. 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.