COPENHAGEN, 27 November 2025 – The Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Support Team for Ukraine (PSTU), Sharon Hodgson (United Kingdom), together with members of the PSTU, today expressed grave concern at the latest findings of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), which document a sharp escalation in civilian harm and deliberate strikes on civilian infrastructure in 2025. (The HRMMU’s press statement on mounting civilian casualties and intensified attacks on energy infrastructure is available here, and all UN HRMMU reports can be accessed via the mission’s official portal.)
According to the HRMMU, civilian casualties in Ukraine rose sharply in 2025. From January to October, 12,062 civilians were killed or injured – a 27 per cent increase over the same period in 2024 and 62 per cent higher than in 2023. July 2025 saw the deadliest month since April 2022, with 1,794 casualties. While casualties increased nationwide, the sharpest surges occurred in urban centers far from the frontlines due to intensified Russian long-range attacks. In Kyiv, casualties in the first ten months of 2025 were nearly four times higher than all of 2024, with similar spikes in Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia.
“The figures released by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission are alarming and underscore the urgent need for renewed international attention and action,” said Sharon Hodgson. “Civilians are bearing the brunt of intensified attacks, and the deliberate targeting of energy infrastructure ahead of winter is particularly devastating.”
HRMMU reports that long-range drones and missiles killed 548 civilians and injured 3,592 in 2025, representing a 26 percent and 75 percent increase respectively compared to the same period in 2024. Near the frontlines, meanwhile, short-range drones equipped with first-person-view capacity have been the leading cause of civilian casualties. The UN mission also documented that several of these long-range attacks have deliberately targeted energy infrastructure. In October and November alone, Russian armed forces carried out seven co-ordinated large-scale strikes against Ukraine’s energy systems, triggering emergency power outages and rolling blackouts across the country, while also disrupting water supply and centralized heating systems.
“As members of parliament representing people across our countries, we have a duty to speak out when civilians are subjected to such devastating harm. Our role is not only to legislate but also to ensure that the voices of those suffering are heard in international forums,” the members of the PSTU stated. “The deliberate targeting of civilians and critical infrastructure is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law. We stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and call on all OSCE participating States to intensify efforts to hold perpetrators accountable and to strengthen support for Ukraine’s resilience.”
The PSTU reaffirms its commitment to supporting Ukraine through parliamentary diplomacy, monitoring, and advocacy, and urges governments and international organizations to respond decisively to the escalating humanitarian crisis. We look forward to a halt of Russia’s full-scale invasion and to accountability for humanitarian law violations being ensured.
For more information on the work of the Parliamentary Support Team for Ukraine, please click here.
