UN reports jump in Ukraine civilian toll driven by drone attacks

GENEVA, July 21 - Civilian injuries and deaths increased by more than a third in Ukraine in the first half of the year, driven by rising drone attacks, the U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday.

The U.N. human rights office said it has documented a total of 1,396 deaths and 7,978 injuries in the first six months of 2026, representing a 37% increase from the same period last year and a near doubling versus 2024.

Of those, 418 people were killed from January to June in short-range drone attacks, and 2,437 injured. That compares with 218 killed and 1,511 injured in short-range drone attacks in the same period a year earlier.

The office did not break down the total figures of war-related casualties further.

Russia's full-scale war on Ukraine is in its fifth year and Kyiv is also responding with waves of drone attacks on Moscow, some of which have also caused civilian casualties, Russian authorities say.

“This escalation is being driven by two main reasons. The first is long-range ballistic missiles and drones, and the second by short-range drones and glide bombs in the frontline areas," Danielle Bell, head of the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, told a U.N. press briefing from Kyiv after major Russian ballistic attacks there this week.

The frontlines of Ukraine are criss-crossed by anti-drone nets to protect soldiers and civilians from the rising threat and service personnel patrol to guard roads and other infrastructure and shoot down drones, where possible.

"These attacks are gradually destroying the systems that sustain civilian lives and allow communities to function," Bell said.

Both sides deny targeting civilians. REUTERS