Published on: 2026-06-12
Source: United Nations – United Nations –
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In May 2026, more civilians in Ukraine died or were injured than in any other month in the past four years, according to the monthly report of the UN human rights monitoring mission in the country (HRMMU).
According to confirmed mission data, as a result of violence related to the conflict, at least 274 civilians in Ukraine were killed and 1,763 were injured in May.
“More civilian casualties were recorded in May than in any other month during the period from April 2022,” stated Daniel Bell, head of the MMCC.
“The escalation of hostilities and the wider use of powerful weapons in the urban area led to a high number of dead and wounded among the civilian population across the country,” he added.
In previous years, the number of victims increased steadily from month to month during the spring and summer period. Indicators for victims in 2026 so far follow the same trend but settle at a significantly higher level than in previous years.
According to the mission data, the main cause of civilian deaths in May was aviation and missile strikes on urban areas. Thus, on May 5, as a result of a strike by aviation bombs on the industrial zone in the city of Zaporizhzhia, 12 civilians were killed and 42 were injured. On May 14, a missile that hit a residential building in Kyiv killed 24 civilians and injured at least seven.
As Bell noted, the discussion is not only about strikes on settlements near the front line. Civilians were dying and getting injured in cities throughout Ukraine, including far from the zones of active ground combat.
The overwhelming majority of the victims in May were on the territory controlled by the government of Ukraine. However, the mission also reports casualties on the territory occupied by the Russian Federation. Thus, 21 people were killed and many wounded when an educational complex in occupied Starobelsk, Luhansk region, was attacked during the night of May 21-22.
Near the front line, the main cause of civilian deaths has become attacks using short-range drones: the number of casualties from such drones in May 2026 was higher than in any other month since the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. As a result of the use of this type of weapon, 64 civilians were killed and 539 were wounded within a month.
The mission also reports that, according to Russian authorities, in May 47 civilians were killed and 298 were injured on the territory of the Russian Federation. The OHCHR systematically collects and analyzes publicly available information on casualties among the civilian population in the Russian Federation, but does not have the capacity to regularly verify these data due to the limited number of independent information sources.
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