UN official warns Ukraine civilian casualties hit new high in June

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - NEW YORK— The United Nations said on Thursday that civilian casualties in the Ukraine war climbed to a new high in June with at least 265 people killed and 1,816 others injured, as a senior official urged "meaningful dialogue and negotiations" to put an end to the four-year-long war.

"In the past week alone, three massive waves of Russian aerial strikes targeted Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, further raising the alarming civilian death toll and widening the destruction," Rosemary DiCarlo, UN under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, told the Security Council.

She said the strikes followed a clear pattern, as "they targeted urban centers with large civilian populations and destroyed or severely damaged residential buildings, with devastating consequences for the people living there," adding, "We condemn these attacks in the strongest terms."

Citing the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), DiCarlo reported that "civilian casualties in Ukraine, killed and injured, were higher in May than in any other month since the beginning of the conflict."

"Preliminary figures for June indicate an even higher toll, with at least 265 people killed and 1,816 injured. This concerning trend is seemingly continuing into July," she said, citing three massive ⁠waves of Russian aerial strikes on ‌Kyiv and other Ukrainian ‌cities this past week alone, many targeting urban centers ‌with large civilian populations.

“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 said the number of civilians killed and injured in Ukraine in May had been the highest since April ‌2022, but OHCHR data pointed to an even higher toll in June, and possibly July.

Final data for June will be released in late July, a UN spokesperson said.

In total, DiCarlo said OHCHR ‌had verified that at least 16,402 civilians, including 802 children, had been ⁠killed in Ukraine ⁠since the start of the war, and 48,428 had been injured, including 2,948 children. The actual figures were likely higher.

Civilians living in Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation and inside Russia were also being killed, she said.

Russian authorities have reported that 250 civilians were killed and 1,596 were injured inside Russia in the first six months of 2026, but the UN was not in a position to verify the reports, DiCarlo said.