Ukraine civilian casualty update - 2022

From 4 a.m. on 24 February 2022, when the Russian Federation’s armed attack against Ukraine started, to 24:00 midnight on 19 March 2022 (local time), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recorded 2,361 civilian casualties in the country: 902 killed and 1,459 injured. This included:

• a total of 902 killed (179 men, 134 women, 11 girls, and 25 boys, as well as 39 children and 514 adults whose sex is yet unknown)
• a total of 1,459 injured (156 men, 117 women, 22 girls, and 16 boys, as well as 60 children and 1,088 adults whose sex is yet unknown)

• In Donetsk and Luhansk regions: 992 casualties (248 killed and 744 injured)
  • On Government-controlled territory: 756 casualties (195 killed and 561 injured)
  • On territory controlled by the self-proclaimed ‘republics’: 236 casualties (53 killed and 183 injured)
  • In other regions of Ukraine (the city of Kyiv, and Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred: 1,369 casualties (654 killed and 715 injured)

Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes.

UNPAS believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, especially in Government-controlled territory and especially in recent days, 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 and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Sievierodonetsk and Rubizhne (Luhansk region), and Trostianets (Sumy region), where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties. These figures are being further corroborated and are not included .

UNPAS notes from the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, according that, 115 children had been killed and more than 140 injured. Unpas also notes the report of the Head of the Investigative Department of the National Police of Kharkiv Region, according to which as of 6 p.m. (local time) 19 March, 266 civilians had been killed in the region, including 14 children.

Not all civilian casualties that were reported on 19 March have been included into the above figures. Some of them are still pending corroboration and if confirmed, will be reported on in future updates.