A senior United Nations official delivered alarming numbers to the Security Council on Thursday, reporting that Russian strikes claimed the lives of at least 265 civilians in Ukraine during June and left 1,816 others wounded — the worst combined civilian casualty toll recorded since the earliest weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022.
U.N. political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo noted that May had already set a grim benchmark, recording the highest civilian casualties since April 2022. However, figures from the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights showed June’s numbers were even worse — and early indicators suggest July may follow the same pattern.
A U.N. spokesperson confirmed that the complete and final data for June will be made public in late July.
“This concerning trend is seemingly continuing into July,” DiCarlo told the Security Council, pointing to three large-scale waves of Russian aerial attacks that struck Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in just the past week, with many of those strikes aimed at densely populated urban areas.
“Any attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur, are a clear violation of international humanitarian law and must stop immediately,” she said.
DiCarlo also presented the broader wartime toll, stating that the U.N. has verified at least 16,402 civilian deaths in Ukraine since the war began — among them 802 children — along with 48,428 injuries, including 2,948 children. She cautioned that the true numbers are likely even higher than what has been officially confirmed.
She added that civilians living in Ukrainian territories currently under Russian occupation, as well as people inside Russia itself, have also suffered casualties. Russian authorities have reported that 250 civilians were killed and 1,596 injured inside Russia during the first six months of 2026, though DiCarlo noted the U.N. has not been able to independently verify those figures.
