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News Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Ukraine: civilian casualty update 2 May 2023

02 May 2023

April 2023

From 1 to 30 April 2023, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) recorded 665 civilian casualties in Ukraine:

  • 169 killed (72 men, 60 women, 6 girls, 5 boys, as well as 26 adults whose sex is not yet known); and
  • 496 injured (157 men, 111 women, 8 boys, 7 girls, as well as 5 children and 208 adults whose sex is not yet known).

This included:

  • 134 killed and 426 injured in 106 settlements in territory controlled by the Government when casualties occurred (84 percent of the total); and
  • 35 killed and 70 injured in 14 settlements in territory occupied by the Russian Federation when casualties occurred (16 percent of the total).

Per type of weapon/incident:

  • Explosive weapons with wide area effects: 165 killed and 456 injured (93 per cent);
  • Mines and explosive remnants of war: 4 killed and 40 injured (7 per cent).

Total civilian casualties from 24 February 2022 to 1 May 2023

From 24 February 2022, which marked the start of the large-scale armed attack by the Russian Federation, to 1 May 2023, OHCHR recorded 23,375 civilian casualties in the country: 8,709 killed and 14,666 injured. This included:

  • 18,802 casualties (6,754 killed and 12,048 injured) in territory controlled by the Government when casualties occurred:
  • In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 9,596 casualties (3,986 killed and 5,610 injured); and
  • In other regions 1: 9,206 casualties (2,768 killed and 6,438 injured).
  • 4,573 casualties (1,955 killed and 2,618 injured) in territory occupied by the Russian Federation when casualties occurred:
  • In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 3,045 casualties (679 killed and 2,366 injured); and
  • In other regions 2: 1,528 casualties (1,276 killed and 252 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.

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.

For more information and media requests, please contact

Liz Throssell + 41 22 917 9296 / elizabeth.throssell@un.org or
Jeremy Laurence +41 22 917 9383 / jeremy.laurence@un.org or
Marta Hurtado - + 41 22 917 9466 / marta.hurtadogomez@un.org

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