At least 293 civilians were killed and 1,990 injured in Ukraine in June 2026, the UN’s human rights monitoring mission confirmed on Tuesday, making it the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022, just six weeks into Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The UN report, covering the first half of 2026, found that verified civilian deaths in Ukraine rose 37% year on year to 1,396 in the first six months of the year, more than double the figure for the same period in 2024. The increase was driven primarily by long-range Russian missile strikes targeting densely populated urban centres far from the front line, exploiting Ukraine’s critical shortfall in air defence interceptors.
That shortfall has deepened since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran in February, diverting US Patriot missile production and stockpiles away from Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pushing allies at this week’s Coalition of the Willing summit in Paris and at the NATO summit in Ankara to urgently cover the gap.
In total, the UN has now verified 16,431 civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, among them 803 children. The agency noted the figure was likely a significant undercount, as it cannot verify deaths in Russian-controlled areas including Mariupol and Lysychansk.
Russia separately reported 250 civilian deaths on its own territory in the first half of 2026, a 121% increase year on year, citing Ukrainian drone and missile strikes.
