Terror Statistics: The number of deceased Ukrainian civilians increased by 16% in 2024 - ACLED report.

The number of civilian casualties in Ukraine has risen by 16% following a significant increase in attacks on civilians in 2024, reports ACLED, an organization that collects data on global conflicts.

ACLED analysts believe that unsystematic attacks on residential buildings, healthcare facilities, schools, and the energy sector across Ukraine are not random and 'indicate a strategy of targeted attacks on civilian areas that has intensified during the war.'

Senior ACLED analyst for Europe and Central Asia, Nikita Hurkov, noted: 'This is also confirmed by the choice of weapons, as we have recorded an increase in the use of less precise but extremely destructive bombs amid populated areas, which destroyed civilian infrastructure in the war zone.'

The report analyzes about 5,500 cases of damage to residential buildings, schools, healthcare facilities, and energy infrastructure from February 24, 2022, to December 31, 2024. The most affected areas are the frontline regions, particularly Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Sumy regions, but, as noted in the report, Russian attacks of an unsystematic and sometimes deliberate nature impact the entire country.

Olga Polishchuk, head of ACLED research in Eastern Europe, added that attacks are occurring throughout Ukraine, and assaults on infrastructure have become more common: 'In the past year, there have been 24 assaults on infrastructure in Ukraine compared to 17 in 2022.'

It seems that Russia is trying to force Ukraine to surrender by carrying out attacks on the civilian population.

According to the data presented in the report, the most common acts of shelling civilian infrastructure are attacks on residential buildings, with over 4,200 cases of damage to residential buildings reported. The report also notes attacks on 650 schools, more than 350 healthcare facilities, and about 1,000 assaults on energy infrastructure.

Hurkov said: 'Russia's punitive campaign against Ukraine's infrastructure, including the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear power plant, is one of the latest of more than 1,000 attacks on energy systems during the conflict. This has caused even more harm to Ukraine's energy system and simultaneously threatens Europe's nuclear safety.'