Ukraine: civilian casualty update 10 January 2023

From 24 February 2022, when the Russian Federation’s armed attack against Ukraine started, to 9 January 2023, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 18,096 civilian casualties in the country: 6,952 killed and 11,144 injured. This included:

• a total of 6,952 killed (2,758 men, 1,857 women, 176 girls, and 220 boys, as well as 35 children and 1,906 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
• a total of 11,144 injured (2,425 men, 1,739 women, 234 girls, and 322 boys, as well as 254 children and 6,170 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
  1. In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 9,788 casualties (4,078 killed and 5,710 injured)
     • On Government-controlled territory: 7,640 casualties (3,587 killed and 4,053 injured)
     • On territory controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups: 2,148 casualties (491 killed and 1,657 injured)
  2. In other regions of Ukraine (the city of Kyiv, and Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnytskyi, Poltava, Rivne, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Volyn, and Zhytomyr regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred: 8,308 casualties (2,874 killed and 5,434 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 from 1 to 9 January 2023(individual cases verified by OHCHR)

From 1 to 9 January 2023, OHCHR recorded 135 civilian casualties:

• 34 killed (16 men, 10 women, 1 boy, as well as 7 adults whose sex is yet unknown); and
• 101 injured (33 men, 14 women, 1 boy, as well as 53 adults whose sex is yet unknown).

This included:

• 29 killed and 87 injured in 31 settlements in regions (parts of regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred (86 percent of the total); and
• 5 killed and 14 injured in 5 settlements in parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups (14 percent of the total).

Per type of weapon/incident:

• Explosive weapons with wide area effects: 29 killed and 97 injured (93 per cent);
• Mines and explosive remnants of war: 5 killed and 4 injured (7 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.

* An increase in figures in this update compared with the previous update (as of 2 January 2023) should not be attributed to civilian casualties that occurred from 3 to 9 January only, as during these days OHCHR also corroborated casualties that occurred on previous days. Similarly, not all civilian casualties that were reported from 3 to 9 January have been included into the above figures. Some of them are still pending corroboration and if confirmed, will be reported on in future updates.