Ukraine’s civilian casualties have surged 26 percent in the last year as Trump talked about peace
Ukraine’s civilian casualties increased by 26 per cent during 2025, according to a monitoring group, as Vladimir Putin ramped up his bombing campaign while peace talks hit endless stumbling blocks.
Figures from NGO Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) state there were 14,775 Ukrainian casualties last year, up from 11,765 in 2024. The 2025 figures include 2,250 deaths – up 11 percent from the previous year’s 2,027 – and 12,525 injuries, up 28 percent from 9,738.
The average number of casualties-per-incident also rose significantly to 4.8, a 33 per cent jump from 2024, with researchers suggesting Russian attacks are being designed to maximise civilian harm.
At the same time, during his first year back in office, US president Donald Trump said he wanted to end the war by bringing the warring sides together.
US-backed talks have seen Ukrainian and Russian delegations sit down together for the first time since 2022 but so far little concrete progress has been made.
Moscow has meanwhile continued to target Ukraine with drones and missiles in increasing numbers.
After a drive to boost its domestic production of drones, Putin’s forces were able to launch unprecedented numbers of projectiles at targets in Ukraine, increasingly targeting energy infrastructure and other residential buildings.
Last summer, Russia launched what would be its worst attack of the year on the central city of Dnipro on 24 June, killing 21 and injuring 314, including 38 children, in a strike on a passenger train, apartments, and schools.
The trend has continued into 2026, with Moscow launching a series of heavy air attacks targeting energy infrastructure as Ukraine faced its coldest winter in years.
“The data points to a worrying shift in the character of the conflict,” the AOAV report states. “Fewer attacks are causing more harm.
“This suggests that explosive weapons by Russia in Ukraine are being used in ways that generate greater civilian impact, whether through more drone strikes, heavier munitions, specific targeting choices of populated areas, or repeated strikes on urban infrastructure.”
Before Trump took office in mid-January 2025, he promised to bring an end to the war “in 24 hours”. According to a tally by CNN, the US president made this promise 53 times while on the campaign trail.
He later claimed he was speaking “figuratively” when Moscow made it clear it had no intention to stop launching its huge overnight air attacks, or advancing on the eastern frontline, until Kyiv accepted its maximalist demands.
Despite ongoing peace talks between Ukraine, Russia and the US there appears to be very little progress on the critical stumbling block which has prevented peace for months: territory.
