February 12, 2026
Peace talks were supposed to save lives in Ukraine. Instead, last year became the war’s deadliest for civilians since 2022.
The investigative group Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) has released a report documenting civilians killed and wounded in the war between Russia and Ukraine in 2025. The summary, which tracks victims on both sides of the conflict, is CIT’s second — the first covered 2024. The report’s central finding is grim: Peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, brokered by the United States, failed to de-escalate the violence. Instead, civilian casualties surged so sharply that 2025 was the war’s deadliest year for noncombatants since 2022.
TL;DR
- 2025 marked the deadliest year for civilians in the Russia-Ukraine war since 2022, with 2,919 killed and 17,770 injured.
- Peace negotiations initiated in 2025 failed to de-escalate the conflict, leading to a surge in civilian casualties.
- Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) caused the most civilian casualties, killing 1,376 and injuring 10,089, with drone casualties tripling compared to 2024.
- Non-occupied Ukrainian territories experienced 79% of the total civilian casualties, with higher impacts than occupied areas or Russia.
- The report suggests the Russian military employs indiscriminate force and commits war crimes on a larger scale than Ukrainian forces.
- Deadliest attacks targeted Ternopil, Sumy, and Kyiv, with a June 24 strike on Dnipro causing the highest total casualties.
- Belgorod region in Russia remains the most affected, followed by Kursk and Bryansk regions.
- The harm inflicted on civilians depends more on military deployment choices than weapon design.
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