May 2026 was the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022

In May 2026, more civilians in Ukraine were killed and injured than in any other month over the past four years.

This is stated in the monthly report of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, published on June 12.

The mission confirmed that at least 274 civilians were killed and another 1,763 were injured as a result of conflict-related violence in May — a combined total of more than 2,000 casualties in a single month. Compared to May 2025, this figure rose by 93%, and compared to April 2026 — by 23%.

“In May, civilian casualties exceeded 2,000 — more than in any other month since April 2022,” said Danielle Bell, head of the monitoring mission.

The mission identified Russia’s use of heavy weapons in urban areas as the primary cause of the high casualty toll. Long-range weapons — missiles and drones — accounted for 45% of all casualties, the majority of whom were in urban centers far from the front line.

Short-range drone strikes were the leading cause of civilian deaths and injuries near the front line: in May alone, at least 64 people were killed and another 539 were injured in such attacks. This trend continues a pattern observed throughout 2026, with short-range kamikaze (FPV) drones causing increasing harm to civilians in areas of active combat.

The May figures cap a period of mounting losses. In the first four months of 2026, at least 815 civilians were killed and another 4,174 were injured — 21% more than in the same period of 2025. The final figures for all of 2025 already reflected a 31% increase compared to 2024, when at least 2,514 people were killed and 12,142 were injured.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, at least 15,172 civilians have been killed and more than 41,000 have been injured as a result of the conflict, according to UN data published earlier this year.

The monitoring mission also noted that Russian authorities reported 47 civilians killed and 298 injured on Russian territory in May. Several days after the end of the reporting period — on June 2 — Russia launched another large-scale overnight strike using 656 long-range drones and 73 missiles. The attack on several Ukrainian cities killed at least 22 civilians and injured another 145.