Since the start of this year, civilian casualties in Ukraine caused by Russian shelling have reached their highest levels for the same period in the past three years.
This was reported by Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations for Europe, Central Asia, and the Americas, during a UN Security Council session on Friday.
Jenča highlighted that over the past month, missile and drone attacks from Russia on Ukrainian towns and cities have intensified dramatically, inflicting severe harm on the civilian population.
In June alone, civilian casualties hit a three-year high, with 6,754 people killed or injured during the first half of 2025. July has seen a continued escalation, with Russia launching over 5,100 long-range weapons, including a record 728 drones on a single day—July 9.
“Kyiv and the historic port city of Odessa have been subjected to particularly heavy bombardments recently,” Jenča said. “Daily attacks involving hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles have become the norm.”
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He also warned that “there is currently no safe place in Ukraine,” as even the western regions—once relatively spared—have faced the most intense airstrikes since the war began.
According to UN figures, since Russia’s full-scale invasion began, at least 13,580 civilians have been killed, including 716 children, and more than 34,000 others, including 2,173 children, have been wounded.
Jenča reaffirmed,
“International law strictly forbids attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure. We strongly condemn all such violations.”
The UN official also expressed concern over reports of civilian casualties in Russia but noted that independent verification of those claims remains impossible due to limited access to reliable data from Russian sources.
