Russian forces have perpetrated possible war crimes and crimes against humanity since their invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have also committed potential war crimes.

BACKGROUND:

On 24 February 2022 Russian Armed Forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Since then, cities and towns across the country have been bombarded with indiscriminate explosive weapons and Russian forces have perpetrated likely war crimes and crimes against humanity, including indiscriminate attacks, systematic use of torture and sexual and gender-based violence. The UN has verified more than 16,126 civilian deaths while emphasizing that the real toll is likely much higher. According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), at least 2,514 people were killed and 12,142 injured in 2025, marking a 31 percent increase compared to 2024. This escalation is due in part to the growing use of short-range drones, which caused a 120 percent rise in civilian casualties in 2025, while long-range weapons accounted for 35 percent of civilian harm. The conflict has also caused a massive humanitarian crisis, displacing at least 10 million people, including more than 6.5 million who have fled to neighboring countries.

The HRMMU has documented the widespread use of heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, unguided missiles, airstrikes and illegal cluster munitions in populated areas. Schools, homes, water and sanitation systems, energy-related infrastructure and civilian shelters are routinely targeted. The World Health Organization has verified 3,115 attacks on healthcare since February 2022. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has verified damage to at least 540 cultural and religious sites. In areas under their control, Russian forces have perpetrated rape and torture, and mass graves and burial sites have been found in areas retaken from them.

Ukrainian and Russian forces have committed abuses against prisoners of war (POWs), including torture and ill-treatment, and have prosecuted accused “collaborators,” according to the HRMMU. The UN has further documented violations committed against POWs by Russian-affiliated mercenary operatives from the now-dissolved Wagner Group, including enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and extrajudicial executions, which may amount to war crimes under international law.

Intense fighting also continues in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, collectively known as Donbas, a region Russia has sought to control despite Ukraine’s refusal. The conflict in Donbas has been ongoing since 2014 after a pro-European change of power in Kyiv prompted the Russian government to militarily support majority-ethnic Russian separatists. An estimated 14,000 people were killed and millions displaced between 2014-2022 and the International Criminal Court (ICC) found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity. According to international monitors, both sides have continued to commit violations that may amount to war crimes.

The ICC has issued arrest warrants for six Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin and former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, including forcibly transferring children and attacking civilian areas. The Court also opened a field office in Kyiv to support over 150,000 war crimes cases. Separately, after Ukraine filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under the Genocide Convention, in March 2022 the Court ordered provisional measures, demanding Russia suspend its military operations.

Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has been widely condemned and many states and intergovernmental organizations have responded with targeted sanctions, economic measures and other restrictions. Some states have provided Ukraine’s military with weapons, including banned cluster munitions. The UN General Assembly has passed numerous resolutions that have demanded humanitarian access to civilians, condemned and insisted on the immediate reversal of Russia’s annexation of occupied Ukrainian territory and called for reparations and justice for violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:

Since the start of 2026, Russian forces have intensified attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. In the first six days of May alone, the UN reported that at least 70 civilians were killed amid widespread strikes across multiple regions. On 12 June the HRMMU released its May report, which documented the highest monthly civilian casualty toll since April 2022 and verified at least 274 civilians killed and 1,763 injured during the month. These figures represent a 93 percent increase compared with May 2025 and reflect Russia’s intensified use of long-range weapons against cities across Ukraine, as well as the growing use of short-range drones in frontline areas.

This shift in tactics has been accompanied by increasingly large and frequent drone and missile attacks, with Russian forces launching hundreds of overnight strikes against cities across Ukraine. Recent strikes on Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia have resulted in dozens of civilian casualties, as well as widespread destruction of residential buildings and repeated disruptions to electricity and water supplies. UN agencies and humanitarian organizations have warned that the growing reliance on long-range drones has expanded the geographic scope of the war’s impact, placing civilians far from frontline areas at increasing risk.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) recently expressed alarm over escalating attacks impacting humanitarian operations and personnel, including a 20 May missile strike on a UNHCR warehouse in Dnipro that killed at least two people and destroyed more than $1 million worth of humanitarian supplies intended for frontline communities. In the same week, two marked UN aid convoys were struck by drones in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions while delivering assistance to civilians.

ANALYSIS:

Violations and abuses perpetrated by Russian forces in areas under their control may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including killing, rape and the systematic use of torture against civilians, as well as grave violations against children, such as killing, maiming, unlawful transfers and deportations. Civilians in Ukraine are at increased risk as Russian forces target residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure with relentless drone and rocket strikes with wide-area effects.

Ukrainian forces have also perpetrated violations and abuses of international law as they continue a counteroffensive to regain territory. Although the conflict is stagnant in Donbas, civilians on either side of the front lines remain at increased risk as Russian and Ukrainian forces continue to use banned cluster munitions.

Parties to the conflict have utilized rhetoric that may amount to incitement to violence, increasing the risk of ethnic-based targeting. Russian officials have also implemented anti-Ukrainian curriculums for children in occupied areas.

Despite sustained external mediation efforts, the vast differences in the preconditions expressed by Ukraine and Russia, including respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, highlight the increasingly diminishing prospects for negotiations that could bring a lasting end to the conflict. Additionally, the easing of sanctions on Russian oil due to disruptions from the war on Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz give Russia access to finances to fund its war effort, increasing the risk to Ukraine’s civilians and furthering impunity for the atrocities committed by Russian forces.

RISK ASSESSMENT:

• • • Failure to adequately halt violations of IHL and International Human Rights Law in eastern Ukraine since at least 2014.
    • Russia’s pattern of violence against civilians, their property, livelihoods and cultural symbols and blatant disregard for IHL.
    • Large-scale airstrikes and use of long-range and unguided weapons by Russian forces and counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces.
    • Increasing polarization, marginalization of minority populations, propaganda and inflammatory speech in Russia and Ukraine.
    • Impunity for orchestrators and perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

NECESSARY ACTION:

Parties to the conflict must strictly adhere to IHL and ensure the protection of civilians. All violations must be investigated and perpetrators held accountable. Legal proceedings for those accused of crimes must be transparent, impartial and respect international standards of due process and proportionality.

Amid the protracted crisis, the international community must continue to pressure Russian authorities to halt their aggression in line with the ICJ’s provisional measures, including by closing loopholes in sanctions on dual-use items and third country imports and exports. The international community should maintain its support for Ukraine in upholding its international obligations to protect its populations, including by safeguarding the country’s territorial integrity, within the parameters of international law. This includes continuing to support Ukraine through the provision of air defense systems, which are the primary means by which Ukrainian forces defend against Russia’s use of drones and aerial bombardment. The international community should also continue to support those in need of humanitarian assistance.

Peace must be brokered through a process that includes all parties to the conflict and addresses the protection and security concerns of Ukrainian and Russian civilians. Additional protections must be provided to civilians during negotiations, as both sides have increased aerial attacks during these periods.