Civilian casualties in the Russia-Ukraine war rose by 37% in the first six months of this year, with 1,396 people killed and 7,978 injured, the UN Human Rights Office said on Tuesday.
Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said the figures marked a 37% increase compared with the same period last year and were nearly double the level recorded in 2024.
Speaking from Kyiv to reporters in Geneva, Bell said the increase, which occurred more than four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, came as attacks by both sides along the front line intensified, causing growing harm to civilians.
In Russia, the UN recorded 250 civilians killed and 1,596 injured in the first half of the year, based on what Bell described as credible open-source information from the Russian Federation.
She said that represented a 121% increase from the same period last year.
Bell also said civilian casualties caused by short-range drone attacks in the two countries had risen by 65%.
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan stressed that civilians and civilian infrastructure are strictly protected under international humanitarian law, and that any deliberate attack on them amounts to a war crime.
