According to the United Nations, devastating Russian missile and drone strikes have killed and injured hundreds of Ukrainian civilians this month, continuing a pattern of relentless attacks far from the front lines. This comes after June saw the highest monthly number of civilian deaths and injuries in three years, with over 230 people killed and more than 1,340 injured.
“According to our latest information, so far this month at least 139 civilians have reportedly been killed and 791 injured in Ukraine amid intense and successive waves of missile and drone strikes launched by the Russian Federation,” said Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on Tuesday in Geneva.
“In an overnight attack on July 12, Russian armed forces reportedly deployed 597 Shahed loitering munitions and decoy drones, and 26 missiles. Two civilians were killed and 41 reportedly injured. Damage to civilian infrastructure was reported across several regions, including Chernivtsi, Lviv, Cherkasy, Volyn and Kirovohrad, far away from the frontline.“
According to the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), Russian armed forces launched a record 728 long-range drones against Ukraine on July 9 alone.
This month has brought no respite for civilians in Ukraine after June, which, according to UN monitoring, saw the highest monthly number of civilian deaths and injuries in three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 injured.
Last month, Russia launched ten times more missile and loitering munitions attacks against Ukraine than in June 2024. Virtually no region of Ukraine was spared, regardless of its proximity to the front line.
Russia’s use of powerful, long-range missiles and drones against urban areas, the enhanced destructive power of these weapons, and the increasing frequency of attacks were key contributors to the spike in casualties. Additionally, the increased deployment of short-range drones has had deadly consequences for communities near the front lines.
“The devastating physical and psychological impact on civilians of repeated attacks - in this and other conflicts - cannot be captured by numbers alone. People are having to spend hours sheltering, including in basements, corridors and available refuges such metro stations,” the UN spokesperson said.
“Children, older people and people with disabilities are especially vulnerable to the prolonged stress and disruption of sleep, and, in some cases, are unable to get to shelter.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has verified 2,504 attacks on health facilities and personnel in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. These strikes have hit hospitals, ambulances, and first responders, including in "double tap" attacks, where secondary strikes follow the initial impact.
Speaking from Kyiv, Jarno Habicht, the WHO representative in Ukraine, said civilian casualties almost doubled between April and June 2025 compared to the first quarter of the year.
He said that healthcare was no longer a safe place for patients and medical personnel and noted that access to healthcare remained especially limited in frontline areas where personnel and supplies were scarce.
The latest health needs assessment shows that more than 70 percent of people reported experiencing mental health issues in the past 12 months, and one in two people reported significant stress in the past two months.
Habicht said that, although access to mental health services and support has improved, not everyone in need seeks help.
Throssell said that intense and sustained attacks using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas are likely to have indiscriminate impacts, raising serious concerns about their compliance with international humanitarian law.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker TĂĽrk reiterates that an immediate ceasefire is needed to end this unbearable suffering.
“The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine must urgently be halted and work on a lasting peace, in line with international law, must intensify - a peace that ensures accountability for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law,” Türk said.
He also emphasized the importance of focusing negotiations on immediate steps to end attacks affecting civilians, protect the rights of people in occupied territories, return forcibly transferred or deported children, establish humanitarian corridors across the line of control, and stop the torture and mistreatment of prisoners of war (POWs) and other detainees.
TĂĽrk urged Russia and Ukraine to commit to a full exchange of POWs, and said that resolving the fate of civilian detainees must also remain a high priority.
“Since early June, colleagues in Ukraine have interviewed nearly 140 Ukrainian prisoners of war, all men, released during recently agreed exchanges,” Throssell said.
"Many had endured up to three years in captivity, and nearly all reported being tortured or ill-treated, including severe beatings, electric shock and sexual violence. These findings confirm patterns we have previously established of widespread and systematic torture."
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine continues to interview Russian POWs held by Ukraine and to document the use of unofficial places of detention, as well as torture and mistreatment in the early stages of captivity.
Ukrainian authorities have launched investigations into several of these allegations, and the UN Human Rights Office calls on them to ensure these investigations progress expeditiously in accordance with international standards.
February 24, 2025, marked three years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has left to date more than 47,000 civilians dead or injured. As these are UN-verified figures, the actual numbers are believed to be much higher.
Since February 2022, OHCHR has verified the deaths of over 13,500 civilians, including more than 700 children, as well as injuries to over 34,100 people in Ukraine. Most of the casualties were caused by shelling and artillery, as well as rocket and drone attacks.
According to human rights monitors, many reports, particularly from certain locations such as Mariupol and Lysychansk, and from the immediate aftermath of February 24 three years ago, are still being verified due to the large volume of reports. Some reports could not be verified due to a lack of access to the relevant areas.
Attacks on civilian infrastructure continue to devastate lives and communities, creating critical humanitarian needs throughout the country. An estimated 12.7 million people in Ukraine, primarily women, children, older adults, and individuals with disabilities, require humanitarian assistance in 2025.
Civilians remain particularly vulnerable to relentless Russian attacks. Serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, are widespread in the ongoing armed conflict.
Despite ongoing international discussions about ceasefire negotiations, the situation in Ukraine remains extremely volatile. The daily threat of shelling and airstrikes continues to endanger lives. Ukrainians continue to be killed, wounded, and deeply traumatized by the violence.
The armed conflict has created the largest displacement crisis in Europe since World War II. More than 10.5 million people remain displaced, and new waves of displacement are occurring in the north and east due to ongoing hostilities. As of April 2025, approximately 6.9 million people had fled to other countries, primarily the Russian Federation, Poland, and Germany, while 3.6 million were displaced within Ukraine.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), humanitarian access for aid organizations remained challenging in Ukraine’s front-line communities in May and June.
OCHA attributes this to the acceleration of front-line shifts and intense hostilities in the most affected regions: Dnipro, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Sumy, and Zaporizhzhia, as well as long-range strikes and the ongoing conscription of staff working with humanitarian agencies.