The war in maps: Open source data reveals scale of damage to Ukraine’s schools and critical infrastructure

Open source data reveals the devastation to critical infrastructure and services in Ukraine, with schools, hospitals and energy facilities among the buildings and structures damaged since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

Since then, CIR’s Eyes on Russia project has been collecting and analysing images and footage from social media, corroborating visual evidence with media reports and satellite image analysis to verify locations and details. 

Analysts verified 4,370 incidents involving infrastructural damage and civilian harm between 24 February 2022 and 31 January 2025. Education facilities were the worst hit, the data reveals, with 1,146 incidents recorded in this category, including incidents involving destruction to schools, kindergartens, university buildings and other education facilities such as sports centres. Donetsk suffered the highest number of incidents impacting education facilities.

“Over the past three years we’ve seen protected sites like schools or hospitals attacked again and again, and in some cases we’ve seen evidence of deliberate targeting,” said Belén Carrasco Rodríguez, Director of CIR’s Eyes on Russia project.

Damage to critical civilian infrastructure – such as energy and telecommunications facilities, or dams and bridges  – accounted for 967 incidents, with 389 incidents taking place in 2024 alone. Attacks have continued into 2025, with 41 incidents recorded in this category in January. 

Ukraine’s energy infrastructure suffered over a dozen large-scale energy strikes in 2024, at times leaving hundreds of thousands without heating during harsh conditions. A large-scale coordinated attack on Christmas Day targeted critical facilities across multiple regions according to the UN, causing significant damage to thermal power plants and boiler stations providing heating to civilian homes. 

“Strikes on Ukraine’s energy supply have also intensified recently – an attempt to maximise disruption during the colder months. The goal here is quite clear: to make life unsustainable for those who remain,” added Rodríguez. 

Investigators also verified 588 incidents involving damage to cultural and religious buildings, and 598 incidents where civilian death or injury was recorded. Data also reveals that hospitals or medical facilities were damaged in 524 incidents. 

‘Reduced to rubble’

Mapping of the incidents collected by CIR shows clear clusters around the frontline, with over a third of incidents recorded in Donetsk Oblast (1466), followed by Kherson (765) and Kharkiv (699).  

Drone warfare and glide bombs

CIR has also observed Russia’s technological advancement in the war, with drones and glide bombs playing an increasingly prominent role. Eyes on Russia noted an uptick in civilian casualty incidents in Kharkiv in May and June 2024 following the Russian offensive, corresponding with increased use of glide bombs striking Kharkiv, particularly high-rise buildings. 

Glide bombs are built by retrofitting fold-out wings and satellite navigation to old Soviet bombs, as explored in a recent CIR documentary. They played a key role in the destruction of the town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv.

Kherson, the first major Ukrainian city to be seized by Russian occupying forces, has seen consistent shelling since Ukraine liberated the city in November 2022. Locals have described Russia’s escalation of drone warfare in Kherson as a “human safari”, with people, animals and vehicles among the targets, according to a recent Eyes on Russia investigation. 

In January 2025, investigators recorded 167 incidents involving damage to infrastructure or resulting in civilian harm. Eyes on Russia continues to document and map the destruction. Where safe to do so, incidents are displayed in the Eyes on Russia map, which has so far documented over 23,000 data points.