UN warns of rising civilian toll in Ukraine as winter approaches

UN officials told the Security Council on 9 November that attacks on populated areas and energy facilities were taking a heavy toll on civilians in Ukraine, with winter set to put further pressure on essential services.

Kayoko Gotoh, a senior UN political affairs official, said at least 328 civilians were killed and 2,105 injured in September. The combined total of 2,433 was 85% higher than the 1,317 killed or injured in September 2025. It was the highest September toll recorded by the UN since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The increase is not limited to a single month. The UN human rights monitoring mission recorded 17,781 civilian deaths and injuries in the first nine months of 2026, 59% more than in the same period of 2025. Gotoh said preliminary analysis suggested October’s toll was as high as September’s.

Since the invasion, the UN has verified at least 17,968 civilian deaths and 57,713 injuries in Ukraine, Gotoh said. The monitoring mission says the actual toll is likely to be considerably higher, partly because it cannot access some areas or verify every report.

UN humanitarian official Mohamed Yahya warned the council that Russian attacks on energy infrastructure were already causing power and water cuts affecting millions. Falling temperatures could leave homes colder and place further strain on hospitals and water systems, he said.

On 5 November, power outages disrupted water supplies in every district of Kyiv, affecting homes, hospitals and schools, according to UNICEF. The agency said it had provided 47 generators to the city’s water utility.

In the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukrainian energy company DTEK said an overnight Russian attack left more than 600,000 people without electricity on 8 November, Reuters reported. Russia said it had struck two substations in Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr, claiming they supplied the defence industry.

A UN winter response plan aims to support more than two million vulnerable people with repairs, generators, cash assistance and other help. Yahya cautioned that aid could help people through power cuts but could not replace an electricity grid repeatedly damaged by attacks.