The high civilian casualties are likely to be largely due to Russia's indiscriminate use of artillery, according to a British intelligence report published by the UK Ministry of Defence.
“As of 13 February 2023, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had recorded 18,955 civilian casualties since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This consisted of 7,199 killed and 11,756 injured. 697 of the civilian casualties occurred in January 2023,” the report says.
The OHCHR has stated it believes that the actual figures are considerably higher. Based on other, independent analysis, over 16,000 civilians have likely been killed.
Data from January 2023 indicated that the violence continued along the 1,200km front line, but was primarily concentrated in Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhya regions.
Throughout January 2023, there was a very high intensity, and worsening trend, of damage being inflicted on both medical and educational facilities.
These incidents, and continued civilian casualties are likely largely due to Russia’s lack of discrimination in the use of artillery and other area weapon systems.