Ukraine: civilian casualty update 18 April 2023

Date: 18 April 2023

From 24 February 2022, which marked the start of the large-scale armed attack by the Russian Federation, to 17 April 2023, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 22,904 civilian casualties in the country: 8,534 killed and 14,370 injured. This included:

• 18,429 casualties (6,634 killed and 11,795 injured) in territory controlled by the Government when casualties occurred:
• In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 9,494 casualties (3,950 killed and 5,544 injured); and
• In other regions¹ : 8,935 casualties (2,684 killed and 6,251 injured).
• 4,475 casualties (1,900 killed and 2,575 injured) in territory occupied by the Russian Federation when casualties occurred:
• In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 2,988 casualties (657 killed and 2,331 injured); and
• In other regions² : 1,487 casualties (1,243 killed and 244 injured).

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 17 April 2023 (individual cases verified by OHCHR)

From 1 to 17 April 2023, OHCHR recorded 324 civilian casualties in Ukraine:

• 85 killed (41 men, 21 women, 2 boys, 1 girl, as well as 20 adults whose sex is not yet known); and
• 239 injured (80 men, 54 women, 3 boys, 2 girls, as well as 100 adults whose sex is not yet known).

This included:

• 69 killed and 206 injured in 74 settlements in territory controlled by the Government when casualties occurred (85 percent of the total); and
• 16 killed and 33 injured in 9 settlements in territory occupied by the Russian Federation when casualties occurred (15 percent of the total).

Per type of weapon/incident:

• Explosive weapons with wide area effects: 83 killed and 215 injured (92 per cent);
• Mines and explosive remnants of war: 2 killed and 24 injured (8 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 and numbers 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] 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.

2] Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia regions.