U.N. officials told the Security Council on Thursday that Russian strikes in Ukraine killed at least 265 civilians and wounded 1,816 people during June, producing the highest combined monthly civilian casualty figure since the first months following Moscow's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Rosemary DiCarlo, the U.N. political affairs chief, told council members that while May had already registered the highest casualty total since April 2022, newly compiled data from the U.N.'s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - OHCHR - indicate an even larger toll for June, and preliminary indications suggest the pattern may have extended into July.
A U.N. spokesperson said that final, consolidated numbers for June will be released in late July.
U.N. findings and official comments
DiCarlo described recent events as a worrying escalation and pointed to a series of large-scale aerial attack waves on Kyiv and other urban areas during the past week, many of which struck densely populated civilian neighborhoods.
"This concerning trend is seemingly continuing into July," DiCarlo said, citing three massive waves of Russian aerial strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities this past week alone, many targeting urban centers with large civilian populations.
"Any attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur, are a clear violation of international humanitarian law and must stop immediately," she added.
Verified totals since the start of the conflict
According to OHCHR verification cited by DiCarlo, at least 16,402 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war, including 802 children. The agency has also verified 48,428 civilians injured, including 2,948 children. U.N. officials noted that the true numbers are likely higher than those verified.
DiCarlo also said civilians living in Ukrainian territory under Russian occupation and civilians inside Russia have been killed. She referenced Russian government reports that indicated 250 civilians killed and 1,596 injured inside Russia in the first six months of 2026, but added that the U.N. was not in a position to verify those figures.
Ongoing data collection and next steps
The U.N. continues to compile and verify casualty data, with finalized figures for June expected at the end of July. U.N. leadership emphasized the legal obligation to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and reiterated calls for attacks against non-combatants to cease.