Ukraine: civilian casualty update 27 February 2023

Date: 27 February 2023¹

From 24 February 2022, which marked the start of the large-scale armed attack by the Russian Federation, to 26 February 2023, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 21,580 civilian casualties in the country: 8,101 killed and 13,479 injured. This included:

• a total of 8,101 killed (3,584 men, 2,127 women, 256 boys, and 201 girls, as well as 31 children and 1,902 adults whose sex is not yet known); and
• a total of 13,479 injured (3,536 men, 2,421 women, 398 boys, and 293 girls, as well as 271 children and 6,560 adults whose sex is not yet known).

OHCHR recorded:

• 17,296 casualties (6,257 killed and 11,039 injured) in territory controlled by the Government when casualties occurred:
• In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 8,916 casualties (3,714 killed and 5,202 injured); and
• In other regions² : 8,380 casualties (2,543 killed and 5,837 injured).
• 4,284 casualties (1,844 killed and 2,440 injured) in territory occupied by the Russian Federation when casualties occurred:
• In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 2,824 casualties (622 killed and 2,202 injured); and
• In other regions³ : 1,460 casualties (1,222 killed and 238 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), Lysychansk, Popasna, and Sievierodonetsk (Luhansk region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties.

Civilian casualties from 1 to 26 February 2023(individual cases verified by OHCHR)

From 1 to 26 February 2023, OHCHR recorded 525 civilian casualties:

• 123 killed (59 men, 38 women, as well as 26 adults whose sex is not yet known); and
• 402 injured (134 men, 85 women, 11 boys, 8 girls, as well as 164 adults whose sex is not yet known).

This included:

• 102 killed and 362 injured in 102 settlements in territory controlled by the Government when casualties occurred (88 percent of the total); and
• 21 killed and 40 injured in 9 settlements in territory occupied by the Russian Federation when casualties occurred (12 percent of the total).

Per type of weapon/incident:

• Explosive weapons with wide area effects: 115 killed and 377 injured (94 per cent);
• Mines and explosive remnants of war: 8 killed and 25 injured (6 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.

ENDS

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

1/ An increase in figures in this update compared with the previous update (as of 15 February 2023) should not be attributed to civilian casualties that occurred from 16 to 26 February only, as during these days OHCHR also corroborated casualties that occurred on previous days. Similarly, not all civilian casualties that were reported from 16 to 26 February have been included into the above figures. Some of them are still pending corroboration and if confirmed, will be reported on in future updates.

2/ The city of Kyiv, and Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Khmelnitskyi, Lviv, Poltava, Rivne, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Volyn, and Zhytomyr regions.

3/ Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia regions.