UN says Ukraine war 'becoming deadlier by the day' as April civilian toll hits new monthly high

The war in Ukraine is intensifying on all fronts as it enters its fifth year, the UN told the Security Council on May 19, with record monthly civilian casualties, repeated strikes on humanitarian convoys and a widening funding gap that is forcing aid agencies to ration help. "Well into its fifth year, the war in Ukraine is becoming deadlier by the day," Kayoko Gotoh, director of the Europe and Central Asia Division for the UN Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, told the council.

April recorded 238 civilians killed and 1,404 injured, the highest monthly figure since July 2025 and what Gotoh called "a continuing pattern of rising civilian harm." Since the invasion began in February 2022, the UN human rights office has verified at least 15,850 civilians killed -- 791 of them children -- and another 44,809 injured. Last week's aerial bombardment was "one of the largest" since the war began. "We strongly condemn all attacks against civilian and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur," Gotoh said.

Gotoh welcomed a US-mediated prisoner exchange on May 15 that returned 205 prisoners from each side and urged the two governments to "finalize the details and fully implement all phases of the agreed large-scale exchange" of 2,000. With direct negotiations now a year old without progress, she said talks "should resume without further delays to prevent further escalation."

Edem Wosornu, director of the operations and advocacy division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said two UN convoys were struck last week while carrying aid to civilians, despite having notified authorities through established channels in advance. "Attacking them directly is strictly prohibited and can amount to war crimes," she said. Between January and April this year, three humanitarian workers were killed and 10 others injured, and the weapons being deployed were "rapidly changing what it means to deliver life-saving assistance."

The funding picture is now equally critical. The UN is reaching only a fraction of the 10.8 million people in need, with $1.7 billion of the $2.3 billion appeal still unfunded -- nearly three-quarters short, in Wosornu's accounting. Without timely funding, she warned, delays force "impossible choices about who receives assistance and who does not."

The figures match what Ukraine's own ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, reported on May 13: 2,514 civilians killed in 2025, the deadliest year of the war for Ukrainians, with 19,033 recorded air raids.