War in Ukraine becomes deadlier for women and girls, more than 1,500 days after full-scale invasion

The first three months of 2026 was the deadliest winter for women and girls in Ukraine since the first year of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation.

Some 199 women and girls were killed between January and March 2026. This is more than the number of women and girls reported killed during the same period in 2025, 2024, and 2023, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine[1].

We had already seen casualties among women increase significantly by 27 per cent in 2025 compared with 2024[2].

Each woman or girl killed was someone who had plans, purpose, who had people who loved them deeply and who deeply depended on them.

In addition to the horrific death toll, attacks on civilian infrastructure have made life so much more difficult for those who survive.

Preliminary findings from a UN Women assessment show that these energy attacks significantly increased the household-load, stress, and financial burden for women across the country, and worsened physical and mental health. The impact has been particularly hard and devastating on women with caregiving roles, those with constrained resources, and limited access to stable electricity.

“Women are significantly more likely than men to report having no backup energy supply during disruptions – 73 per cent of women say that they have no alternative energy sources[3].

Lesser seen than the immense destruction, is the response that women are leading. The women keeping public transport running, teaching children in underground classrooms, caring for older relatives, demining contaminated land, repairing energy systems, and holding their families and communities together.

One of those women is Tetiana Moruzhenko, an energy worker whom I met last month from Sloviansk, a frontline city in the Donetsk region. Tetiana leads a team of 27 energy workers responsible for repairing energy infrastructure following attacks to ensure that the city’s homes, hospitals, and schools can regain light and heat.

Tetiana, and her all-men team, works around the clock. She told me: “What is damaged at night needs to be repaired by morning. And I stay here to do it.”

Women are also leading the response through women-led organizations – also under threat. Nearly eight in ten women’s organizations in Ukraine told UN Women that funding reductions are seriously affecting their work, including some organizations reporting having to reduce the number of women and girls supported by their services.

Official donor assistance to support women has reduced and inequalities in Ukraine are increasing.

Women and girls in Ukraine cannot afford for the world’s attention to fade. They need sustained support, protection, investment, and financing.

UN Women continues to work across Ukraine to provide protection services, humanitarian aid, and guidance on laws, policies, and budgets to make sure that women’s needs are addressed.

We are also working to make sure that women are part of political processes and decision-making on Ukraine’s future, because at this moment they are largely sidelined, as lasting peace cannot be reached anywhere when women are excluded from negotiations.”