Civilian deaths in Ukraine in July hit highest level since May 2022: UN 

The United Nations has reported that civilian deaths in Ukraine have reached their highest level in July since the opening months of Russia’s invasion in 2022.

“At least 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 injured in Ukraine in July, a 30 percent increase compared with the previous month and a 70 percent increase compared with July 2025,” the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission said in a statement.

The UN said it has verified the deaths of 16,874 civilians since Russia’s invasion, but warned that this is likely a significant underestimate since it cannot confirm casualties in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russian forces.

That figure includes the port city of Mariupol, which Russia laid siege to at the start of the war and where thousands are widely thought to have died.

At least 54 civilians were killed in Kyiv during the month – “one of the hardest hit cities”, the UN said.

Russian authorities, for their part, reported an increase in the number of civilians killed to 79 in July.

Russian military official ‘killed in blast’

On Thursday, Russian news agencies, citing ⁠the country’s Federal ⁠Security Service (FSB), said a Russian ⁠military official ⁠was killed in an ‌explosion in Russian-annexed Crimea.

Also on Thursday, a Russian drone hit a passenger train in southern Ukraine’s Odesa region, killing two of the train’s crew, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of continuing a campaign of “terror” by attacking the train on Thursday, which he said was carrying 340 people.

“Whoever was operating that drone certainly could not have been unaware that the target was entirely civilian,” said Zelenskyy in a post on X.

While two crew members were killed, including the train’s driver, none of the passengers was harmed, said the chairman of the state railway operator, Oleksandr Pertsovskyi.

Video published by Ukrainian emergency services showed a bright fire raging in the train cab, the front of which was blown out and mangled.

Moscow’s forces have repeatedly hit trains throughout the war in what Kyiv claims is an effort to disrupt its logistics and hit civilians.

Zelenskyy said Russia also fired more than 130 attack drones into 11 regions of Ukraine overnight Wednesday into Thursday.

The Russian attacks hit several businesses in Ukraine’s Chernihiv, damaging them, reported Ukraine’s state news agency.

Russia’s Ministry ⁠of Defence said ⁠its forces also seized control of the Ukrainian village of Petrivka in ⁠the eastern Donetsk ⁠region.

‘More air defence needed’

Zelenskyy has pleaded with allies to deliver more advanced air defence systems – particularly United States Patriots – to fend off intensifying attacks by Russia’s super-fast ballistic missiles, whose trajectory and speed make them hard to stop.

He repeated that plea on Thursday, saying “more air defence support and more pressure on Russia are needed if the world is serious about stopping this war in Europe.”

In Russia, ⁠Ukraine’s military struck an oil refinery ⁠and petrochemical complex in ⁠the republic of Bashkortostan, causing a fire, Ukraine’s military said on Thursday.

It said the complex supplies the Russian military and pledged to continue hitting “key enemy targets”.

Ukraine has increased its own long-range attacks on Russia in recent months – justifying them as retaliatory strikes designed to hit Moscow’s war machine and dent its vital energy revenues.