Civilian deaths related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict 2014-2025
As of January 31, 2025, 12,605 civilians were reported to have been killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24, 2022. Prior to the war, fighting took place in eastern Ukraine between the Ukrainian Armed Forces and separatist forces supported by the Russian government. Over the course of 2021, 25 conflict-related deaths were recorded in Ukraine. Between April 14 and December 31, 2014, the number of killed civilians exceeded 2,000. These include 298 victims of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) which was shot down in July 2014.
Euromaidan protests and the annexation of Crimea
In late 2013, the pro-Russian government of Ukraine backtracked on further integration with the European Union (EU), which led to the Euromaidan period; anti-government protests then turned violent, resulting in almost 100 deaths and thousands of casualties, before the president was ousted. This was followed by the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, as well as its backing separatist paramilitaries in the eastern Oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk; in terms of ethnic composition, these three regions have the highest share of ethnic Russians. Within a month of the annexation, a referendum was held in Crimea and roughly 96 percent of the public voted in favor of joining Russia. The results and validity of the referendum, however, have not received international recognition, and international sanctions sent the Russian economy into recession, but Russia has held de facto control of Crimea since 2014.
Ukraine after 2014
Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, was elected in 2014, and oversaw a period of further decommunization, European integration, and anti-corruption policies, as well as numerous ceasefires in the Donbas region (although none lasted more than six weeks). Poroschenko was defeated in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election, with commentators citing various reasons, such as his own scandals, failure to engage with the Russian community, persistent corruption, and the popularity of his opponent. He was succeeded by a political outsider, the former comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who ran on a populist and reformist platform.