By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – According to UN human rights monitors on Monday said that over 2,500 civilians were killed in Ukraine in 2025, and 12,250 injured, marked a 31% increase compared to 2024
The figures refer to those verified, with the actual total likely to be considerably higher, they said.
In December more than 150 were killed and 888 injured, the monitors noted.
The long-range attacks by Russian forces using missiles and drones caused 33% of all civilian casualties 34 killed and 308 injured, hitting cities and towns far from the frontline.
Some 67% of civilian casualties occurred near the frontline 122 killed and 571 injured, they reported.
There are 18,500 civilians have been killed since the conflict started.
According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission the number of civilian casualties is likely to be significantly undercounted in cities such as Mariupol (Donetsk region), Lysychansk, Popasna, and Sievierodonetsk (Luhansk region), where there was protracted intensive fighting at the start of the full-scale Russian invasion which began in February 2022.
Russian Federation also conducted large-scale, region-specific attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on top of civilian casualties.
In December, the Odesa region was the most affected areas, experiencing repeated strikes that resulted in prolonged outages in several cities, the rights monitors concluded.
