Russia killed record number of Ukraine civilians amid peace push

Russia accelerated its attacks on civilians after US President Donald Trump began his efforts to end the war in Ukraine, the first comprehensive assessment of 2025 casualties undertaken by European governments has found.

Some 2,400 Ukrainian civilians were killed in Russian attacks in 2025 with almost another 12,000 injured, according to an analysis seen by Bloomberg, which has not been made public but is in line with United Nations data published on Jan 12. That amounts to an increase of nearly 30 per cent in 2024.

The European governments’ report put total Ukrainian civilian deaths since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 at around 15,000, with more than 40,000 injured. It said there had been 758 Ukrainian children had been killed and a further 2,445 injured. 

While the assessment offers no insight into the Kremlin’s motivations, the timings show that the scale of the attacks increased whenever the Trump administration attempted to advance peace negotiations. 

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than 2,000 of 2025’s civilian deaths occurred after Mr Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2025 in which the leaders agreed to begin talks towards a ceasefire, according to the report. 

It said Russia launched the 40 largest air attacks of the entire war in the months after its officials took part in the first direct talks with Ukrainian counterparts in three years in May 2025.

In the second half of 2025 – mostly following

Mr Trump’s August meeting with Mr Putin in Anchorage

, Alaska – Russia fired an average of 5,300 drones at Ukraine each month, according to the assessment. That was more than five times the monthly average in 2024.

Since reports emerged in November 2025 of a

28-point plan

drawn up by American and Russian officials to end the war, Russia launched more than 9,000 drones and 350 missiles at Ukrainian cities, killing more than 220 civilians, it said.

Establishing

a death toll for Russia’s war in Ukraine

has been difficult, with Mr Trump himself often making claims about military casualties that are far higher than other estimates.

The European government tally is consonant with the latest figures published by the United Nations’ Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. It said on Jan 12 that 2,514 civilians were killed and 12,142 injured, with older people disproportionately affected since so many of them remain in frontline villages

European officials told Bloomberg the figures were evidence Mr Putin is not taking the peace talks seriously. They could also show the Russian leader is attempting to gain leverage in negotiations by signalling a willingness to increase violence and sap Ukrainian morale. BLOOMBERG