Since the beginning of 2025, the number of civilian casualties among the Ukrainian population due to Russian shelling has reached the highest level for similar periods in the last three years.
Points of attention
- The number of civilian casualties in Ukraine due to Russian shelling has reached its highest level in the last three years, with over 6,700 civilians killed and injured in the first half of 2025.
- Russia intensified its attacks on Ukrainian cities and villages by firing over 5,000 long-range munitions, including a record 728 drones in July alone.
- The UN Assistant Secretary-General highlighted the catastrophic damage to the civilian population and emphasized that there is no safe place in Ukraine, with even western regions facing large-scale air attacks.
Russia is killing Ukrainian civilians: how many victims?
This was stated by Miroslav Jenča, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, during a meeting of the UN Security Council on July 25.
Over the past month, "the daily shelling of Ukrainian cities and villages with missiles and drones by the Russian Federation has only intensified, causing catastrophic damage to the civilian population," Jencha emphasized.
According to him, in June the number of civilian casualties reached a three-year peak.
In total, 6,754 people were killed and injured in the first half of 2025 alone.
Jencha also noted that in July alone, Russia fired at least 5,183 long-range munitions at Ukraine, including a record 728 drones on July 9.
Kyiv and the historic port city of Odesa have come under particularly heavy attack in recent weeks, with attacks by hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles occurring daily.
He noted that "there is no safe place in Ukraine right now," as the Russian Federation is also shelling the western regions, which have suffered the largest air attacks in the entire time of the full-scale war.
In total, according to the UN, since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, at least 13,580 civilians have been killed, including 716 children, and another 34,115 civilians, including 2,173 children, have been injured.
International law clearly prohibits attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. We strongly condemn all such attacks.
Today, the UN Security Council met to discuss the humanitarian situation in Ukraine due to the intensification of Russian shelling.
