United Nations: 2025 was the deadliest year for civilians in Ukraine since 2022
A recent report by UN monitors revealed that 2025 saw the highest rate of civilian casualties in Ukraine since the outbreak of full-scale war in 2022. This alarming increase is a result of escalating hostilities along the front lines, as well as the Russian forces expanding their use of long-range weapons and ballistic missiles, bringing residential areas far from the front lines into direct fire.
Shocking statistics and escalation on the ground
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported on Monday that the total confirmed civilian casualties in 2025 amounted to at least 2,514 deaths and 12,142 injuries. These figures represent a 31% increase compared to 2024, reflecting a serious deterioration in the humanitarian situation.
Commenting on these figures, Danielle Bell, head of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' monitoring mission in Ukraine, stated that the rise in casualties was not only due to direct clashes, but was largely driven by the use of long-range weapons that endangered civilian lives across the country, including in areas previously considered relatively safe.
Historical context and diplomatic setbacks
To understand the scale of the current catastrophe, one must consider the broader context of the conflict, which began with a large-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. After the initial shock of war and the heavy casualties in the early months, the following years saw fluctuations in the rate of civilian losses. However, 2025 brought back the brutality of the beginning, as the military strategy shifted toward exhausting Ukrainian capabilities by targeting infrastructure and urban centers.
These grim figures coincide with a clear impasse in the diplomatic process. US-led efforts to end the war have faced significant obstacles, most recently Moscow's rejection of a draft plan to deploy European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine immediately after the cessation of hostilities, indicating a current deadlock in the prospects for a political solution.
The reality on the ground and the unreleased figures
Although the United Nations has verified the deaths of approximately 15,000 civilians since the start of the war, the report emphasized that “the actual scale of the damage and casualties is likely to be much higher.” This is due to the impossibility of accessing areas under Russian control to verify the figures, particularly in coastal cities like Mariupol, which endured a brutal siege and where unofficial estimates suggest thousands have been killed.
On the military front, an analysis of data from the US Institute for the Study of War showed that Russian forces made more field gains in 2025 than in any other year except 2022. This progress comes as Ukrainian forces suffer from a severe shortage of equipment and ammunition, which has disrupted the balance of power on the ground and increased the vulnerability of Ukrainian defenses to repeated attacks.
Regional and international repercussions
The effects of this escalation are not limited to Ukraine alone, but extend to European regional security. The increased intensity of the shelling and the rising number of casualties are placing growing pressure on European countries and NATO to accelerate military and humanitarian support to Kyiv. Furthermore, the continuation of the war at this violent pace threatens to exacerbate the refugee crisis in neighboring countries and increases risks related to global energy and food security, given the region's strategic importance in these sectors.
