Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict — November 2025

• Civilian casualties in November 2025 remained high, with at least 226 killed and 952 injured, similar to the previous two months. Total civilian casualties in Ukraine from January to November 2025 (2,311 killed; 11,084 injured) are 26 per cent higher than the same period in 2024 (1,979 killed; 8,616 injured), and 70 per cent higher than in 2023 (1,847 killed; 6,054 injured).

• Long-range strikes with missiles and loitering munitions launched by Russian armed forces in November caused 51 per cent of all civilian casualties (92 killed; 509 injured), usually affecting urban centers far from the frontline. An attack with long-range weapons that struck the western city of Ternopil on 19 November killed more civilians (at least 38) than any other single verified incident in more than two years.

• Forty-eight per cent of civilian casualties occurred near the frontline (130 killed; 430 injured). Short-range drones, primarily with first person-view capacity, remained the primary cause of civilian casualties in frontline regions (60 killed; 211 injured), followed by artillery shelling and MLRS strikes (51 killed; 161 injured), and aerial bombardments (19 killed; 58 injured).

• As in the previous month, the vast majority of civilian casualties (99 per cent1) occurred in areas under the control of the Government of Ukraine. Civilian casualties were recorded across 13 regions of Ukraine and the city of Kyiv.

• The Russian Federation launched five large-scale coordinated attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in November, as well as numerous region-specific attacks. The continued assault on Ukraine’s energy network resulted in long daily power cuts nationwide, as well as prolonged emergency outages lasting more than 36 hours in some areas, affecting electricity, heating and water supply to civilian homes as temperatures began to drop.

Author
Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine