Ukraine: Civilian casualties rise by 47%

The number of civilian casualties recorded in the first five months of this year in Ukraine reached 5,144, including 859 dead and 4,285 injured, a total 47% higher than in the same period in 2024, the UN said on Friday.

The figures were presented at a UN Security Council meeting requested by Ukraine following large-scale Russian airstrikes on June 17. According to the UN Under-Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, Miroslav Jenca, at least 13,438 civilians, including 713 children, have been killed since the start of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The confirmed number of civilians injured is 33,279, including 2,092 children.

The dramatic increase in civilian casualties recorded between January and May this year is a result of the intensified use of long-range weapons against cities across Ukraine, Jenca explained. According to Ukrainian authorities, between June 1 and 17, the Russian Armed Forces launched at least 3,340 long-range drones , including loitering munitions and decoy drones, and 135 missiles into Ukraine.

By comparison, 544 long-range munitions were dropped in the entire month of June 2024. “These levels of death and destruction risk diminishing hopes for an immediate ceasefire and threaten to undermine prospects for lasting peace,” the Under-Secretary-General noted. “As we face further escalation and crisis elsewhere, it is crucial to keep our attention focused on the urgent need for peace in Ukraine . We must redouble our efforts to ensure that the fragile diplomatic process is not only sustained, but made irreversible,” he concluded.

Also present at the meeting was the Director of the Operations and Advocacy Division of the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Edem Wosornu, who estimated that more than 20% of Ukrainian territory is contaminated by mines or unexploded ordnance , making it the most affected country since the Second World War.

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Regarding the needs of the population affected by this war, almost 13 million people are in need of assistance in Ukraine , Edem Wosornu said. About 3.7 million people remain internally displaced, including 60,000 newly displaced from frontline regions since January 2025. There are almost six million Ukrainians registered as refugees worldwide, mainly in Europe, he added.

“Sexual violence has been documented throughout the war , but health facilities and safe spaces in war-affected rural areas are often ill-equipped to respond to survivors. Essential women’s rights and survivor-led organizations operate with limited funding,” explained the OCHA representative.

In an appeal for more financial support, Edem Wosornu recalled that declining trends in humanitarian funding are forcing the closure of UN programmes, even in a volatile and increasingly complex and dangerous operational context. “ Additional resources are urgently needed to save lives and prepare for the coming winter,” he stressed.