Ukraine: civilian casualty update 18 July 2022

Ukraine: civilian casualty update¹

Date: 18 July 2022

From 24 February 2022, when the Russian Federation’s armed attack against Ukraine started, to 17 July 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 11,862 civilian casualties in the country: 5,110 killed and 6,752 injured. This included:

• a total of 5,110 killed (1,943 men, 1,342 women, 142 girls, and 163 boys, as well as 41 children and 1,479 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
• a total of 6,752 injured (1,359 men, 1,001 women, 147 girls, and 210 boys, as well as 190 children and 3,845 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
  • In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 6,687 casualties (3,002 killed and 3,685 injured)
    • On Government-controlled territory: 5,527 casualties (2,766 killed and 2,761 injured)
    • On territory controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups: 1,160 casualties (236 killed and 924 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: 5,175 casualties (2,108 killed and 3,067 injured)

Civilian casualties in Ukraine from 24 February to 17 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 17 July 2022

From 1 to 17 July 2022, OHCHR recorded 827 civilian casualties:

• 229 killed (60 men, 62 women, 6 girls, 7 boys, and 94 adults whose sex is yet unknown); and
• 598 injured (104 men, 122 women, 12 girls, 20 boys, as well as 3 children and 337 adults whose sex is yet unknown).

This included:

• 190 killed and 469 injured in 73 settlements in regions (parts of regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred (80 percent of the total); and
• 39 killed and 129 injured in 12 settlements in parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups (20 percent of the total):

Per type of weapon/incident:

• Explosive weapons with wide area effects: 225 killed and 593 injured (99 per cent);
• Mines and explosive remnants of war: 4 killed and 5 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.

ENDS

Ukrainian and Russian language versions of this update as they become available, please visit this page.