Steep rise in civilian casualties in Russia-Ukraine war, UN says

Is the war entering a new phase? Civilian casualties in the war between Russia and Ukraine are increasing sharply, mainly because of long-range ballistic missiles and drones "affecting densely populated urban areas that are far away from the front line", the United Nations says. Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that the unit documented 1,396 civilians killed and 7,978 wounded in Ukraine in the first six months of 2026. Pointing to credible Russian open-source reporting, Bell said 250 civilians had been killed and 1,596 injured in attacks inside Russia during the first six months of this year. "This represents a 121 percent increase in civilian casualties in the Russian Federation compared with last year," she said.