Ukraine: NGOs deeply concerned by the 2024 disastrous human toll due to bombardments in populated areas

As we are about to witness the three-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine since Russian’s full-scale invasion, civilians are bearing the brunt of the war. The conflict remains volatile with an intensified frontline in East Ukraine, the counter-offensive of Russian armed forces in Kursk region and a renewed global wave of attacks by the Russian Federation on populated areas and especially targeting energic infrastructures. This combination is resulting in devastating consequences, as lives and livelihoods continue to be destroyed, and people are forced to flee their homes. The use of landmines, cluster munitions and the extensive use of explosive weapons in populated areas poses additional threats to civilians with lasting consequences.

2024 has proven to be even more deadly than 2023, representing a 22% raise of civilian casualties, 10 491 civilians have been either killed or injured so far this year[1]. Moreover, the number of civilian casualties from aerial bombs has significantly increased compared with last year, with fatalities rising threefold and injuries increasing sixfold compared to 2023. From September to November 2024, aerial bombs killed 108 civilians and injured 755 in Ukraine, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU).

Following two joint statements in 2024, we are, once again, highlighting the significant incidents[2] that have occurred from October to December, demonstrating that the massive use of explosive weapons in populated areas continued to excessively claim civilian lives.

October 2024:

At least 183 civilians were killed and 903 injured in Ukraine in October. 45% of those killed were older than 60 years. Among the casualties, nine children were killed and 49 injured[3].

• In October, short-range drone attacks killed 17 civilians (12 men and five women), and injured 127 (84 men, 41 women, and two boys) in areas of Kherson region controlled by Ukraine[4].
• Multiple aerial bombardments and a missile attack in Zaporizhzhia City killed at least three men and a woman, and injured 77 civilians (38 men, 31 women, and eight girls)[5].
• Almost daily aerial bombardments of Kharkiv City killed at least eight civilians (three men, three and two boys) and injured 88 (45 men, 39 women, three boys and one girl)[6].
• On 9 October attacks on Kharkiv City, have killed at least two people and injured more than 30, including a teenager.
• Six attacks on several vessels and port infrastructure in Odesa region killed at least 15 civilians (12 men, two women and one girl) and injured 37 (27 men and ten women), including port workers and members of ship crews[7].
• On 14 October, an attack on Odessa’s port resulted in one person killed and eight injured, according to Ukrainian authorities[8].
• On 28 October, a guided bomb attack on Kharkiv City on Monday shattered much of the Derzhprom buildings. Six people were injured in the 9 pm strike, adding to 13 wounded in an earlier overnight bomb attack on the city. Moreover, in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, a missile struck a three-storey residential building, killing one person and wounding at least 11[9].

November 2024:

Only in November, 301 incidents of explosive weapon use that resulted in civilian casualties were reported in Ukraine, according to the Explosive Weapon Monitor and at least 165 civilians were killed and 887 injured. Among the casualties, eight children were killed and 57 injured[10].

• On 5 November, a missile attack in Zaporizhzhia City killed eight civilians (seven men and one woman) and injured 24 (19 men and five women).
• On 7 November, aerial glide bombs killed nine civilians (four men, four women and one boy) and injured 42 (21 women, 17 men, three boys and one girl) in Zaporizhzhia City.
• On 17 November, a coordinated missile and loitering munitions attack damaged 17 energy infrastructure facilities in 11 regions. The attack also resulted in 6 civilians killed and at least 14 injured, including two children, nationwide power outages, and damage to housing and property.
• On 17 November, a missile attack struck a residential area in Sumy, killing 11 civilians (five women, four men, one boy and one girl) and injuring 74 (32 men, 27 women, eight boys and seven girls).
• On 18 November, loitering munitions killed 12 civilians (seven women, four men and one boy) and injured at least 6 injured (three women, one man, one boy and one girl), the majority of whom were internally displaced persons, in Hlukhiv, Sumy region.
• On 18 November, nine civilians, including a child, were reportedly killed, and 11, including two children, injured during an attack in Hlukhiv.
• On 25 November,[11] a FPV-drone strikes a humanitarian aid distribution site in Solonchaky, in Mykolayiv region, killing a civilian.
• On 28 November,[12] shelling of a bus stop kills four civilians in occupied Nova Kakhovka, in Kherson region.
• On 26 November, 26 November, artillery shells struck a bus close to a bus stop in occupied Nova Kakhovka (Kherson region), killing at least three women and injuring ten civilians (eight women and two men).
• On 28 November, a coordinated missile and loitering munitions attack damaged 17 energy infrastructure facilities in 11 regions, further exacerbating the difficult electricity situation in Ukraine. The attack also injured at least one civilian (a woman).
• On 30 November, a missile struck residential areas in Tsarychanka village (Dnipropetrovsk region), damaging a moving bus. Three women were killed and 24 civilians (13 women, ten men and one boy) injured.

December 2024:

• On 6 December, aerial glide bombs struck a car repair shop in Zaporizhzhia City, reportedly killing ten civilians and injuring 24, including three children.
• On 10 December[13], a business centre was hit by a ballistic missile in Voznesenivskyi District of Zaporizhzhia City, killing 11 civilians and injuring at least 22, as well as damaging a medical facility, an office building, a restaurant, nearby residential buildings, and several vehicles.
• On 15 December[14], a countrywide attack saw at least one drone impacting the energy infrastructure facility in Mykolaiv City, injuring at least two civilians and one ballistic missile impacting the ground of Kyivsky District, injuring one female civilian and damaging a multi-storey residential building.
• On 20 December[15], ballistics and aeroballistics missiles launched on Kyiv resulted in one person killed and 11 injured, with damages reported on multiple residential and commercial buildings, industrial facilities, a church, and vehicles. As a result of a hot water pipeline being damaged during the attack, the heat supply was suspended to over 630 residential buildings, 16 hospitals and 30 educational facilities in the Holosiivskyi District.
• On 24 December[16], ballistic missile killed one and injured 11 civilians in Kryvyi Rih, damaging as well nearby residential buildings, shops and vehicles.
• On 26 December[17], at least five aerial guided bombs were launched on several settlements of Kharkiv Region, killing one civilian, injuring another one and damaging an enterprise, an administrative building, power distribution lines, a residential area, and vehicles.

Beyond the appalling civilian’s death toll, these massive attacks over towns and villages also have major reverberating humanitarian consequences. The incidents continue to trigger compounded multisectoral needs among the population – in shelter, health, rehabilitation, protection, mental health support and cash assistance. Additionally, it is causing lasting risks of injuries to the population, due to the tremendous number of explosive remnants of war littering the Ukrainian territory.

In this joint statement, we, humanitarian organizations operating in Ukraine, condemn Russia’s indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including healthcare facilities and essential infrastructure, and urged Russia to stop the systematic missile strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure. We strongly denounce these assaults that inflict suffering on civilians and consistently disregard international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL). This includes breaches of the principles of distinction, proportionality, and feasible precautions, as well as the use of indiscriminate attacks and internationally banned weapons like landmines and cluster munitions.

Globally, civilians account for 84% of casualties caused by mines and explosives remnants of war. In Ukraine, by November 2024, 412 civilians have been killed and 954 have been injured by mines or Explosive Remnants of War. Antipersonnel mines can still kill or injure civilians decades later, hindered humanitarian access and strongly impact socio-economic recovery. We call:

• Both parties to the conflict to:
• Renounce the use of banned weapons such as antipersonnel mines and cluster munition, to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munition.
• Stop the use of explosive weapons with wide area effect on populated areas and facilitate rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access.
• Ukraine to comply with its obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty
• Russia to adhere to the Mine Ban Treaty, a pilar of IHL.

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Signatories: Action Contre la Faim (ACF), AQLITY, Help Age, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), Oxfam, Première Urgence Internationale (PUI), Solidarité Internationale (SI), Triangle Génération Humanitaire (TGH), Ukrainian Red Cross Society