During the month of June 2026, 293 civilians were killed and 1 thousand 904 were injured in the attacks of Russian forces in Ukraine. The number of civilian casualties in June was the highest in four years of war.
The United Nations human rights monitoring organization UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) reported this information in a statement published yesterday. According to the organization, the number of civilians killed in Russian attacks in June this year is 37 percent higher than the same period in 2025.
“These figures for civilian casualties in June clearly show that Russia has recently significantly increased the level of attacks using powerful weapons in densely populated urban areas of Ukraine,” HRMMU head Daniele Bell said in a statement.
He also said that last June, in addition to the capital city of Kiev, Russian forces launched long-range missile attacks targeting many residential buildings in important cities including Dnipro, Odessa. The number of civilian casualties increased significantly due to these attacks.
Since June, the total number of civilians killed in the four-year war in Ukraine has reached nearly 1,400. According to the HRMMU statement, the number of Ukrainian civilians killed by long-range Russian missiles alone in the six months from January to June 2025 increased by 60 percent from the current six months from January to June 2026.
In addition to the use of long-range missiles in 2026, the Russian army has also increased the use of short-range drones in areas around the front line or the main battlefield. This is also one of the reasons why so many civilians were killed in June. In addition to the increase in the number of casualties, drone attacks have also changed the environment of these localities, the UN statement said.
“Many people say they fear being hit by a short-range drone just by doing everyday things like buying food, walking the dog, riding a bike, doing yard work or going to a safe place,” Danielle Bell said in the statement.
Tensions have flared between Russia and Ukraine over Kiev’s push for membership in the US-led military alliance NATO, in violation of the terms of the 2015 Minsk agreement signed as Russian territory and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. After several years of tension, Russian forces started military operations in Ukraine from the last week of February 2022.
That war is still going on and in February 2026 it will be 4 years since the war.
TimesBD/ rabbi
