Ukraine: civilian casualty update 1 August 2022

From 1 to 31 July 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 1,455 civilian casualties in Ukraine:

• 355 killed (111 men, 86 women, 6 girls, 9 boys, and 143 adults whose sex is yet unknown); and
• 1,100 injured (190 men, 167 women, 20 girls, 30 boys, as well as 8 children and 685 adults whose sex is yet unknown).

This included:

• 301 killed and 903 injured in 126 settlements in regions (parts of regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred (83 percent of the total); and
• 54 killed and 197 injured in 14 settlements in parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups (17 percent of the total).

Per type of weapon/incident:

• Explosive weapons with wide area effects: 342 killed and 1,078 injured (98 per cent);
• Mines and explosive remnants of war: 13 killed and 22 injured (2 per cent).

Civilian casualties caused by explosive weapons with wide area effects in July 2022

Total civilian casualties from 24 February to 31 July 2022

From 24 February to 31 July 2022, OHCHR recorded 12,584 civilian casualties in Ukraine: 5,327 killed and 7,257 injured.

• a total of 5,327 killed (2,056 men, 1,400 women, 146 girls, and 165 boys, as well as 41 children and 1,519 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
• a total of 7,257 injured (1,446 men, 1,048 women, 155 girls, and 221 boys, as well as 195 children and 4,192 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
  • In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 7,045 casualties (3,148 killed and 3,897 injured)
    • On Government-controlled territory: 5,802 casualties (2,897 killed and 2,905 injured)
    • On territory controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups: 1,243 casualties (251 killed and 992 injured)
  • In other regions of Ukraine (the city of Kyiv, and Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Rivne, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Volyn, and Zhytomyr regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred: 5,539 casualties (2,179 killed and 3,360 injured)

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 in Ukraine from 24 February to 31 July 2022, per month³

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.

ENDS

1. Multiple launch rocket systems.

2. Unmanned aerial vehicles.

3. Actual figures, especially for March, are considerably higher.

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