'Last year, the total number of civilians killed and injured was 30% higher than the year before,' says Rosemary DiCarlo
The UN on Thursday reported an "alarming" increase in civilian casualties in Ukraine throughout 2024, highlighting the devastating human cost of the ongoing war with Russia.
"The holiday and New Year season, a time meant for peace and reflection, brought no respite, but rather an escalation and even expansion of the fighting, consistent with the dangerous pattern of the past year. Most disturbingly, in 2024, we witnessed an alarming rise in the toll of civilian casualties," UN Political Affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the UN Security Council.
Citing the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), DiCarlo said: "Last year, the total number of civilians killed and injured was 30% higher than the year before."
Calling the surge in child casualties "particularly distressing," she said that "more children were killed or injured in the first three quarters of 2024 than in all of 2023."
She further reported that between February 2022 and December 2024, at least 12,456 civilians, including 669 children, were killed, and 28,382 others, including 1,833 children, were injured.
"We unequivocally condemn all attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure. Such actions, no matter where they occur, are prohibited under international law and must cease immediately," DiCarlo said.
Amid the grim developments, she said there was a glimmer of hope, as prisoner exchanges between Russia and Ukraine continued.
DiCarlo welcomed the exchanges, which allowed more than 350 people to return home in recent weeks but expressed alarm over reports of Ukrainian prisoners of war being executed by Russian forces, with the OHCHR documenting 62 killings since August.
"As we approach the third anniversary of Russia's invasion, global calls for de-escalation and the beginning of a process to end the fighting are growing louder," she said.
