Civilian casualties from February 24, 2022, after Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine, to July 16, 2023, totaled 25,671 (25,170 as of June 30), including 9,287 deaths (9,177), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR) reported.
“The UN OHCHR considers that the actual number of civilian deaths or injuries is significantly higher, as many reports from locations where such incidents have occurred continue to require further confirmation, while information from some locations where fighting continues has been delayed,” the document said regarding the UN data.
This applies, for example, to such localities as Mariupol (Donetsk region), Lisichansk, Popasnaya and Severodonetsk (Luhansk region), where numerous civilian deaths or injuries have been reported.
According to confirmed UN figures, 4,272 men, 2,558 women, 282 boys and 226 girls were killed, while the gender of 29 children and 1,920 adults could not yet be ascertained.
Among the 16,384 injured, 486 boys and 352 girls were injured, as well as 279 children whose gender could not yet be determined.
Compared to the June 30 figures, two children have died and 22 others have been injured.
Whereas the UN OHCHR casualty summary was previously issued daily and then only on weekdays, it became weekly from July 2022 and biweekly from the end of May 2023. This summary, like the previous one, provides data by month.
According to them, 74 civilians died in the first 16 days of July. In June, the number of deaths rose to 184 from 174 in May, 180 in April, 181 in March and 143 in February.
The deadliest month for civilians, the UN points out, remains March last year, with a minimum of 4,154 deaths. In April 2022, according to an OHCHR publication, the number of civilian deaths due to war fell to 817 in April, 544 in May, 429 in June and 385 in July. There were 374 deaths in the first five days of the war from February 24 to February 28, 339 in August, 405 in September, 309 in October, 187 in November, 206 in December and 201 in January this year.
The number of injured for the half of July reached 342, compared with 681 in June, 685 in May, 494 in April, 592 in March, 457 in February, 541 in January this year, 617 in December and 541 in November last year. In October, the number of injuries dropped to 795 from 982 in September, when it was up from August’s 920. Prior to that the number of wounded exceeded a thousand each month, July 1,129, June 1,108, May 1,139, April 1,896, March 2,999. In the first five days of the war last February, 469 people were wounded.
The UN OHCHR specifies that in July, large-area explosive weapons killed 72 people and injured 326 others, while mines and explosive remnants of war killed two and injured 16 (4%).
Government-controlled territories accounted for 88% of casualties in July, according to the UN.
The summary traditionally states that the increase in figures to the previous summary should not be attributed solely to cases after June 30, as during this period the Office verified a number of cases from previous days.
