In May 2026, civilian casualties in Ukraine reached their highest level in four years, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported.
According to the mission, at least 274 civilians were killed during the month and another 1,763 were injured. It was the highest monthly figure since April 2022.
The head of the mission, Danielle Bell, linked the rise in deaths and injuries to the escalation of hostilities and the wider use of powerful weapons in urban areas.
According to the UN, the main cause of casualties was missile and air strikes on populated areas. On May 5, 12 people were killed in Zaporizhzhia and another 42 were injured. On May 14, a missile hit a residential building in Kyiv, killing 24 people.
In areas near the front line, the largest number of casualties was linked to short-range drone attacks. In May, such strikes killed 64 civilians and injured another 539 people.
The UN also cited figures from Russian authorities, according to which 47 civilians were killed and 298 injured on Russian territory in May. The mission stressed, however, that it cannot regularly verify these figures because of the limited number of independent sources of information.
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