On November 19, 2024, the UN human rights office put the verified civilian toll of the war in Ukraine at 12,162 dead, 659 of them children, and 26,919 injured. The count runs from February 24, 2022. OHCHR spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said the preceding two days alone had brought reports of at least 30 civilians killed in strikes on residential areas in Sumy City, Odesa and Hlukhiv.
The earlier count shows how fast the total was climbing. By August 31, 2024, the UN had verified 11,743 civilians killed and 24,614 injured. Then came September, the deadliest month for civilians since October 2022: at least 208 killed, nine of them children, and 1,220 injured.
Strikes on civilian sites
OHCHR pointed to two attacks in Zaporizhzhia on November 7. One glide bomb hit an oncology center where cancer patients were receiving chemotherapy and caused severe damage. A second struck an apartment building the same day, destroying half of it and killing ten people. In Hlukhiv, the latest incident before the 1,000-day mark killed nine civilians, one a child, and wounded eleven, two of them children.
Through August 2024 the fighting had destroyed 1,358 educational facilities and 580 medical facilities, according to figures cited by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
Refugees and the displaced
Over 6.7 million people from Ukraine had fled abroad by October 2024, the committee reported. More than 6 million of them were in European countries. Germany hosted the largest number in Europe, having overtaken Poland. Canada and the United States together took in about 400,000.
Inside Ukraine, nearly 3.7 million people were displaced as of February 2024. The International Organization for Migration found that 70% had been uprooted for over a year, and estimated approximately 4.6 million returnees.
The reconstruction bill
On February 15, 2024, the Ukrainian government, the World Bank Group, the European Commission and the United Nations released an updated damage assessment. It put the cost of reconstruction and recovery at $486 billion over the next decade, up from $411 billion a year earlier. Direct damage through December 31, 2023 stood at nearly $152 billion. About 10% of the housing stock had been damaged or destroyed.
Housing made up 17% of the projected costs, transport 15%, commerce and industry 14%, agriculture 12% and energy 10%. For 2024 alone, Ukrainian authorities estimated they needed approximately $15 billion for immediate priorities. Of that, $5.5 billion was secured and about $9.5 billion was not.
“We see that the needs for reconstruction have continued to grow over the past year,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at the release.
Sources
- OHCHR: Civilian Casualties at 1,000 Days of War (UN Web TV)
- Updated Ukraine Recovery and Reconstruction Needs Assessment Released (World Bank)
- Ukraine, October 2024 (U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants)
