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Ukraine: AOAV explosive violence data on harm to civilians

By AOAV on
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Total civilian casualties from explosive violence*: 58,638
– Killed: 11,515
– Injured: 47,123
Last updated: 17 September 2026

*This figure refers to the number of civilians killed or injured by explosive weapon use in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on 24 Feb 2022, gathered using incident-specific English language media reporting. See AOAV’s methodology

In the Ukrainian conflict, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) – which takes its data from reputable English language media – has recorded up to 17 September 2026:

Casualties

  • 13,210 incidents 
  • 63,601 casualties
  • 58,638 civilian casualties (11,515 killed, 47,123 injured)
  • Civilian casualties include at least 2,623 children, 5,012 women, and 5,742 men

Weapons

  • Ground-launched explosive weapons (missile strikes, artillery shelling, and rockets) have caused 39% (22,949) of civilian casualties.
  • Air-launched explosive weapons have caused 39% (22,654) of civilian casualties. 
  • 10% (5,695) of civilian casualties have been caused by multiple types of explosive weapons, and 1% (679) of civilian casualties have been caused by naval-launched weapons, IEDs, and landmines.

5 most impacted regions:

  • Donetsk (12,717 civilian casualties)
  • Kherson (9,787)
  • Kharkiv (9,541)
  • Dnipropetrovesk (6,264)
  • Zaporizhzhia (4,792)

6 most impacted locations:

  • Urban residential (30,910 civilian casualties)
  • Multiple urban areas (14,315)
  • Village (4,677)
  • No information (1,631)
  • Commerical Premises (989)
  • Entertainment (941)

Background
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022, thousands of civilians have been killed and injured across the country. Russian air strikes, missile strikes, and artillery shelling have targeted densely populated urban centres, apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, military bases and vital infrastructure nationwide.

The UN estimates that over a million people, mostly women and children, have fled Ukraine into neighbouring Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, and the number of internally displaced people continues to grow. Humanitarian corridors of evacuation have been attacked, locations of sheltering civilians have been bombed, and Russian forces frequently target apartment buildings, hospitals, schools, and civilian infrastructure with explosive weapons.

Reports have emerged of brutal war crimes by Russian forces in occupied towns and villages, as Ukrainian survivors and journalists on-the-ground report testimonies of the indiscriminate shooting and calculated execution of civilians, most severely in Bucha and Borodyanka, Kyiv region. A fuel crisis, food and medicine shortages, cut-off electricity and water supplies, and freezing temperatures compound the struggle to find safety. Men between the ages of 18 and 60 have been banned from leaving the county, and millions of civilians remain in Ukraine, sheltering from the violence of the Russian advance, providing essential goods and services, and fighting alongside Ukrainian armed forces. Latest estimates by Ukrainian sources place the number of Russian forces killed at above 18,000, though official casualty figures on both sides remain obscured.

AOAV’s data
AOAV’s casualty figures represent the lowest of estimations in terms of the number of people killed and injured by explosive weapon use. In an effort to quantify the explicit harm caused by specific explosive weapons, AOAV solely records incident-specific casualty figures, as reported in English-language media. Much of the casualty reporting since the beginning of the invasion has focussed on cumulative or region-specific casualty figures, making it unclear precisely when and where these deaths and injuries occurred.

Civilian Casualties in Ukraine, 2014-2021

AOAV has monitored an escalation in violence in the Donbas region, which borders Russia, and where violence between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists has occurred since 2014.

Between 2014 and 2021, AOAV recorded 5,242 deaths and injuries in Ukraine, including 2,704 civilians and 2,538 armed actors and security personnel. Of the civilian casualties recorded, 2,381 (88%) were caused by explosive weapon use in populated areas.

Ground-launched weapons, such as shelling, mortars, rockets, or grenades, for example, have accounted for 2,459 civilian casualties since 2014 – 91% of total civilian casualties.

Of the civilian casualties, the vast majority occurred in 2014 and 2015, with 1,428 and 862 civilian deaths and injuries in these years respectively. Despite continued sporadic shelling across the line of control, which divides the region of Donbas, civilian casualties have fallen quite consistently since 2014, with 28 recorded last year. Fewer civilian casualties are also likely to have occurred as numerous civilians have fled the worst impacted areas in Donbas since 2014, leaving an aging population, many of whom cannot leave.

In many instances of shelling since 2014, the perpetrator has not been identified, but where they have, Ukrainian separatist forces have been responsible for at least 667 civilian casualties and Ukraine for 783.

This escalation in violence and the Russian invasion is likely to be disastrous for civilians, as highlighted by the statement released by the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW), of which AOAV is a founding member.

AOAV condemns the use of violence against civilians and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. AOAV encourages all armed actors to stop using explosive weapons with wide-area affects where there is likely to be a high concentration of civilians.