Dmytro Yagunov: Crime Rates in Ukraine and the Impact of the War

In 2022, the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies (hereafter – LEA) registered 362636 crimes with corresponding criminal proceedings where the above-mentioned numbers reflect both criminal proceedings with concrete suspects and so-called “factual” criminal proceedings (without concrete suspects).

It should be noted that the number of registered crimes even for the period of ten months of 2022 almost reached the level of 2021 (a whole year). Consequently, the number of crimes committed in Ukraine in 2022 exceeded the number of crimes committed in 2021 (321443 crimes) and the number of crimes committed in 2020 (360662 crimes). The above-mentioned facts seem to be of a great importance due to the general presumption that negative social and economic consequences of the War would lead to increasing crime trends in Ukraine.

At the same time, in 2023, the LEA registered 475595 crimes with corresponding criminal proceedings where notes of suspicion were given in 189292 proceedings

Correspondingly, in 2024, the LEA registered 492479 crimes with corresponding criminal proceedings where notes of suspicion were given in 194688 proceedings.

In the period of 6 months of 2025, the LEA registered 327847 crimes with corresponding criminal proceedings where notes of suspicion were given in 101399 proceedings. It means that in the period of 6 months of 2025, the LEA registered 67% of the total number of criminal proceedings registered in 2024.

In the period of 7 months of 2025, the LEA registered 377655 crimes with corresponding criminal proceedings where notes of suspicion were given in 111112 proceedings. It means that in the period of 7 months of 2025, the LEA registered 77% of the total number of criminal proceedings registered in 2024.

In the period of 8 months of 2025, the LEA registered 426484 crimes with corresponding criminal proceedings where notes of suspicion were given in 121962 proceedings. It means that in the period of 8 months of 2025, the LEA registered 87% of the total number of criminal proceedings registered in 2024.

At the same time, as police statistics demonstrate, the number of criminal proceedings with suspects in 2022-2024 dropped significantly as compared with the pre-War period, which serves as an indicator of the decreasing effectiveness of the national criminal justice system. It could also be noted that the ratio between the number of criminal proceedings and the number of criminal proceedings with concrete suspects has had a stable trend towards decreasing until the 2022 Russian military invasion. As a result, the criminal justice system of Ukraine has demonstrated one of the highest ratios in the last ten years.