Last year was deadliest for civilians since 2022, UN says
According to the United Nations (UN), 2025 was the deadliest year for civilians in Ukraine since 2022.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said violence from the conflict killed at least 2,514 civilians last year, with the figure expected to be 2,088 in 2024 and 1,974 in 2023. The number of injured civilians also increased sharply every year.
In the deadliest attack of the year, at least 38 civilians, including eight children, were reported killed in the western city of Ternopil in November.
On Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian overnight attacks killed four people in Kharkiv and left “several hundred thousand households” without electricity in Kiev and surrounding areas amid freezing temperatures.
The total number of civilians killed and injured in 2025 increased by 31% compared to 2024 and 70% compared to 2023. According to the UN mission.
IT it has been said before At least 8,006 civilians were killed and 13,287 civilians were injured in the first 12 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
More than 14,534 civilians have been reported killed since the war began in November.
Mission chief Danielle Bell said the 2025 figures represented a “marked deterioration in the protection of civilians”.
“Our monitoring shows that this increase is due not only to intensified hostilities on the front line, but also to the widespread use of long-range weapons throughout the country, which exposes civilians to high risk.”
Separately, Zelensky said nearly 300 drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles targeted cities across the country overnight, causing a major power outage in the Kiev region.
The city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said air defenses were active during the attack, which the army said was a missile attack.
The CEO of energy company Yasno said the entire city went into “emergency shutdowns” as a result, while emergency workers tried to extinguish fires and reconnect supplies in sub-zero temperatures.
The country’s foreign minister accused Russia of deliberately targeting energy infrastructure for warmth and “depriving people of electricity, water and heating” as they woke up to temperatures below -15C.
Part of the capital was already facing Days without heat or electricity in freezing temperatures Because of last week’s strikes.
Zelensky said four people died in the missile attack “without any military purpose” at a postal terminal in Korotych, Kharkiv.
The governor of the northeastern region said 10 people were injured, while the Ukrainian foreign ministry said 30 people were evacuated.
Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin said two people were killed in attacks in the eastern region, while authorities in Odesa in southern Ukraine said six people were injured in attacks that damaged houses, energy facilities, a hospital and a kindergarten.
Kiev said it also launched its own attack overnight on a drone production facility in Russia’s western Rostov region. The Army General Staff said that an explosion and fire were recorded in the region.
The latest attacks come two days after Russia’s full-scale invasion reached its 1,418th day; this was the same length as the Soviet army’s participation in World War II.
EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Matheronva wrote on social media: “At that time, the USSR was attacked, fought back and – thanks to huge Western support – ended the war victoriously… Today Putin chose this war. He planned it. He started it. He owned it.”
