At least 226 civilians killed, 952 injured in Ukraine in November - UN

The Russian Federation’s ongoing campaign against key energy infrastructure is putting civilians in Ukraine at serious risk as winter approaches, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said in its monthly update on the protection of civilians in Ukraine.

The report highlights an increase in attacks by Russian forces on Ukrainian infrastructure in November, an increased use of powerful long-range weapons across the country, and a continued high level of civilian casualties.

At least 226 civilians were killed and 952 injured across Ukraine in November, with the Russian armed forces’ use of powerful long-range missiles and drones in densely populated urban areas accounting for more than half of all civilian casualties. Nighttime attacks often involved the simultaneous use of hundreds of drones and missiles.

“The Russian Federation’s ongoing campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is seriously disrupting the vital services that civilians rely on. Millions of families are now forced to live without electricity, heating and water for extended periods of time – a hardship that is only compounded by the shortening of daylight hours and falling temperatures,” Mission head Head Danielle Belle said.

The UN noted that in November, the Russian Federation carried out five large-scale combined attacks on energy facilities, as well as a series of more targeted strikes, continuing a trend that began in October. These attacks caused large-scale emergency power outages in most regions of the country, lasting more than 36 hours in some areas, and also led to disruptions in heating and water supplies in a number of places.

Such attacks continued into December. For example, on December 4, several long-range drones targeted an electrical substation in Odessa, causing a power outage in the area for several days.

Residents told the Mission that their elderly relatives, people with disabilities or bedridden neighbours were unable to leave their apartments for days because the lifts were down during the outages, and after the power was restored, the lifts remained unsafe due to voltage fluctuations. Volunteers brought food and water to those who were unable to move, while others stored food on cold balconies to prevent it from spoiling. Even after the emergency outages ended, most regions of Ukraine are still experiencing long, scheduled power outages, currently lasting up to 16 hours a day. A social worker from southern Ukraine explained that the outages are causing serious hardship for those she cares for. As an example, she cited the situation of an 87-year-old woman: "It is extremely difficult for her to survive now, because she is completely dependent on the blackout schedule. When the light comes on for a few hours during the day, she has to make the most of this time: to cook food, warm herself, eat hot food, get water from the tap, do laundry and do the simplest household chores. For an elderly person living alone, this is impossible." The increase in long-range strikes is also a major reason for the increase in civilian casualties recorded by the HRMMU in 2025. Thus, between January and November 2024, 509 civilians were killed and 2,462 were injured by long-range drones and missiles. Over the same period in 2025, the number of civilian deaths from long-range weapons increased by 27% to 645, and the number of injured increased by 68% to 4,123.

The combined attack by the Russian Federation on 19 November on Ternopil in western Ukraine is illustrative: long-range missiles and drones killed at least 38 civilians, including 8 children, and injured 99 people, including 17 children. This is the highest number of casualties in a single confirmed incident since the strike on a memorial dinner in the village of Groza, Kharkiv region, in October 2023. The Mission team visited Ternopil and spoke with victims and witnesses, documenting how a rocket directly hit a residential building, causing its structure to collapse, as well as extensive destruction from a large fire that broke out after a long-range drone detonated in the yard of another residential building.