During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military have carried out deliberate attacks against civilian targets[1][2][3] and indiscriminate attacks in densely-populated areas.[4] The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine says the Russian military exposed the civilian population to unnecessary and disproportionate harm by using cluster bombs[5][6][7][8] and by firing other weapons with wide-area effects into civilian areas, such as missiles, heavy artillery shells and multiple launch rockets.[7] As of 2024, the attacks had resulted in the UN-documented deaths of between 11,000[9] and estimated 40,000 dead civilians.[10] On 22 April 2022, the UN reported that of the 2,343 civilian casualties it had been able to document, it could confirm 92.3% of these deaths were as a result of the actions of the Russian armed forces.[11]
On 5 July 2022, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Michelle Bachelet, reported that most civilian casualties documented by her office had been caused by the Russian army's use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas, calling it "indisputable".[12] By 30 June 2023, OHCHR assessed that 90.5% of all civilian deaths were caused by such indiscriminate attack, and that 84.2% of them were recorded in Ukrainian-held territory.[13] El País estimated that by March 2023 the Russian forces were firing at a rate of between 600,000 and 1.8 million shells per month.[14] By February 2024, Russia has fired at least 12,000,000 artillery shells against Ukraine.[15] By the end of 2023, Russian forces launched about 7,400 missiles and 3,900 Shahed drone strikes against Ukraine according to Ukrainian military officials.[16]
No region in Ukraine was spared from Russian attacks. According to a Ukrainian estimate, only 3% of all Russian missiles, drones and bombs hit military targets, while 97% hit civilian targets.[9] By June 2023, UNDP estimated 1.5 million homes in Ukraine were either damaged or destroyed in the Russo-Ukrainian War.[17] By comparison, approximately 2 million homes were damaged or destroyed in Ukraine during World War II.[18]
Reports on the use of cluster bombs raised concerns about the high number of civilian casualties and the long-lasting danger of unexploded ordnance.[7][8] According to the OHCHR, cluster bombs have been used by Russian armed forces and pro-Russian separatists, and to a lesser degree by Ukrainian armed forces.[19][20] In several attacks, most notably the Hroza missile attack, Russia argued that the presence of any armed forces at a given place makes it a "legitimate target", which has been criticized by many international law experts and UN diplomats.[21]
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