The increase in the number of civilian casualties in Ukraine as a result of Russia's full-scale war is mainly due to Russia's indiscriminate use of artillery and other weapons systems, according to a regular report by the British Ministry of Defense based on intelligence.
The British Ministry of Defense notes that as of February 13, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 18,955 civilian casualties were known since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, of which 7,199 were killed and 11,756 were wounded. 697 civilian casualties occurred in January 2023.
OHCHR said they believe the actual numbers are much higher. "According to another independent analysis, more than 16,000 civilians are believed to have been killed," the British MoD said.
As noted, data for January 2023 indicate that violence continued along the 1,200 km long front line, but was concentrated mainly in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhya regions. In January 2023, there was a very high intensity and an upward trend in losses for both medical and educational institutions, intelligence reports say.
"These incidents and subsequent civilian casualties are probably largely due to the lack of selectivity on the part of Russia in the use of artillery and other weapons systems," British intelligence said.