By Merve Aydogan
HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - The UN warned Thursday that civilian casualties in Ukraine have already surpassed 2024's total amid rising Russian aerial attacks, worsening power outages and deepening humanitarian suffering across the country.
"Ukrainian civilians have continued to bear the brunt of the Russian Federation's escalating aerial campaign," Kayoko Gotoh, the UN officer-in-charge for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, told the Security Council, noting that Russia's intensified strikes on energy facilities have led to "widespread and prolonged emergency power outages across most regions of the country, leaving millions without heating, water or public transportation as temperatures plummet."
Stressing the pace of civilian harm, Gotoh said: "We are concerned over the alarming increase in civilian casualties in Ukraine, with the overall figure from January to October 2025 already exceeding the total for all of last year."
"In Kyiv, the number of civilian casualties was nearly 3.8 times higher in the first 10 months of 2025 than in all of 2024," she added.
Citing data from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), she said that since Russia's war on Ukraine began in February 2022, "14,534 Ukrainian civilians, including 745 children, have been killed, 38,472 more civilians, including 2,375 children, have been injured."
Noting that the conflict is also affecting civilians inside Russia, Gotoh reported that "according to Russian authorities, in 2025 Ukrainian drone strikes have killed 392 people, including 22 children, in the Russian Federation and in the areas of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation."
She reaffirmed that "attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international humanitarian law. They are unacceptable, wherever they occur, and must stop immediately."
Warning of risks to nuclear facilities, she said the past months have shown "the fragility of nuclear safety and security during an active war," urging both sides to act responsibly and praising the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) efforts.
Any nuclear incident, she said, would have "unimaginable consequences not only for Ukraine and the Russian Federation, but far beyond."
Gotoh further urged continued diplomatic engagement, welcoming ongoing exchanges of prisoners and noting "today's exchange of mortal remains between the sides."
Edem Wosornu, Director of the Operations and Advocacy Division within the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), speaking on behalf of Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, also warned that humanitarian conditions are rapidly worsening as winter begins.
"As freezing temperatures set in, fear, exhaustion and recurring strikes are compounding hardship nationwide. Power outages are growing more frequent, depriving families of heat and safe water, the very essentials for survival," she said.
Wosornu reported that "some 3.7 million people are displaced in Ukraine and nearly 6 million are refugees," with 122,000 newly displaced this year, primarily women, children and older people who have often been forced to move multiple times.
Aid workers also continue to operate "under constant threat of shelling, restricted access, damaged infrastructure and unpredictable security conditions."
Access to Russian-occupied territories remains "extremely constrained," she added, adding that funding gaps persist.
"Of the $2.63 billion required under the 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan, 46% has been received; the winter component is 65% covered," she said.
"Humanitarian access in several front-line areas is also shrinking," Wosornu said, urging donors to sustain support as needs rise with the harsh winter ahead.