According to the United Nations, civilian casualties in the war between Russia and Ukraine increased by 37% in the first half of 2026. The UN reported this on July 21.
Russia and Ukraine, both of which deny targeting civilians, have intensified daily strikes against each other in recent months, while US-led negotiations to resolve the nearly four-and-a-half-year conflict have stalled. Daniel Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, told journalists in Geneva that the mission documented 1,396 deaths and 7,978 injured civilians. This marks a 37% increase compared to the same period in 2025 and is “almost double the figures we documented in 2024,” she said.
Increase in casualties from long-range weapons
According to Bell, the rise in casualties is partly due to the increased use of long-range ballistic missiles and drones that “hit densely populated urban areas far from the front line.” She cited a missile strike in early July in Kyiv that struck a residential complex, destroying an entire section of the building and resulting in the deaths of 19 civilians and injuring another 76.
Bell also noted a significant increase in civilian casualties in Russia due to Ukraine’s heightened use of long-range weapons. Citing reliable Russian reports from open sources, she stated that during the first six months of 2026, attacks on Russian territory resulted in 250 deaths and 1,596 injuries among civilians. “This represents a 121% increase in civilian casualties in the Russian Federation compared to last year,” she added.
Impact of FPV drones and calls for investigations
A second factor contributing to the rise in civilian casualties is the widespread use of short-range drones and guided aerial bombs in frontline areas, Bell reported. She particularly emphasized the impact of first-person view drones (FPV drones), which allow operators to see targets in real time. “In the first six months of this year, the number of civilian casualties from short-range drones increased by 65%,” she said, expressing concern that “these drones are radically changing everyday life in frontline communities.”
During recent visits to Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Kharkiv, and Dnipro, Bell reported that residents told mission representatives they felt “tracked by FPV drones while performing ordinary daily tasks: gardening, walking dogs, feeding animals outside, going to the store, driving a car, or simply walking or cycling outdoors.” Tamim al-Hitan, a spokesman for the UN Human Rights Office, told journalists that “civilians and civilian infrastructure are strictly protected by international humanitarian law, and any such intentional attack is a war crime.” He added, “All attacks in Ukraine and Russia where civilians were affected, killed, or injured must be investigated to establish the responsibility of the guilty and ensure justice.”
Source: The Straits Times
