BREAKING POINT: For years, the principle of proportionality has been eroding, as there is no longer a functioning international rules-based order, the head of the AOAV said
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The Guardian
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Civilian casualties in Ukraine caused by bombing soared by 26 percent last year, reflecting increased Russian targeting of cities and infrastructure in the country, a global conflict monitoring group said.
Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) said that 2,248 civilians were reported killed and 12,493 injured by explosive violence in Ukraine — with the number of casualties per incident rising significantly.
An average of 4.8 civilians were reported killed or injured in each strike, 33 percent more than in 2024, with the worst attack in Dnipro on June 24. Russian missiles hit a passenger train, apartments and schools, killing 21 and injuring 314, including 38 children.
A Ukrainian serviceman walks past a makeshift memorial for fallen soldiers on Independence Square in Kyiv on Sunday.
Photo: AFP
The figures showed that “Ukraine fits a wider collapse of restraint that is now visible across multiple wars,” and respect for the distinction of proportionality in war “has broken,” AOAV executive director Iain Overton said.
Deliberately targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure in a way that is excessive to direct military advantage is a war crime, but experts have said the principle of proportionality is at breaking point across multiple conflicts, including Gaza, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as Ukraine.
“We have watched this erosion unfold over years, from Homs to Aleppo to Mariupol and on to Gaza. What seems different now is the sense that there is no longer a functioning international rules-based order capable of ever holding those responsible to account,” Overton said.
Missile and drone attacks took place almost nightly across Ukraine last year, and continued into this year, leaving millions of people with limited or no access to electricity, heating and water. A total of 805 drones and 13 missiles targeted Ukraine on the night of Sept. 9, the largest air raid recorded in the war.
AOAV monitors civilian casualty figures based on English-language reports of incidents of explosive violence globally. Although the measure is consistent, it undercounts the true numbers of civilians killed and wounded, partly because media accounts in one language are inevitably incomplete.
Globally, civilian casualties dropped 26 percent from a 10-year high recorded by the group in 2024, largely because of the October ceasefire in Gaza, previously the most deadly and dangerous conflict for civilians. Civilian casualties were 14,024 in Gaza last year, 40 percent lower than the previous year.
Israel’s military at the end of last month indicated it accepted that the death toll compiled by authorities in Gaza was broadly accurate. A security official acknowledged that 70,000 Palestinians had been killed since October 2023, in line with the latest Gaza health ministry total of 72,061 killed and 171,715 injured.
Last year, 25,718 Palestinians were recorded as killed by the health ministry and 62,854 injured, demonstrating that the English-language press reports monitored represent an undercount of the reality on the ground.
The AOAV said that 45,358 civilian casualties were recorded worldwide last year, down from 61,353 the year before. Those figures comprised 17,589 civilians reported killed and 27,769 injured by explosive violence of all types.
The country responsible for the most killed and wounded by explosive violence was Israel, marginally ahead of Russia.
“Across Ukraine, Myanmar, Gaza and Sudan, the message is the same,” Overton said. “When impunity becomes normalized, war crimes stop being shocking exceptions and begin to resemble a method of warfare.”
