The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) has verified that no less than 274 civilians have been killed and 1,763 injured final month – a 93 per cent improve in contrast with May 2025 and a 23 per cent improve over April 2026.
“With greater than 2,000 civilian casualties, the month of May noticed extra civilian casualties than another month since April 2022,” mentioned mission head, Danielle Bell.
Assaults on city areas
Rights investigators mentioned the usage of highly effective weapons by Russia in city areas was the primary driver of the excessive casualty toll.
Assaults with long-range weapons – missiles and drones – accounted for 45 per cent of all casualties, most of which occurred in city centres removed from the frontline.
For instance, an aerial bomb assault on an industrial space in Zaporizhzhia metropolis on 5 May killed 12 civilians and injured 42. On 14 May, a missile struck an residence constructing in the capital, Kyiv, killing 24 civilians whereas no less than seven others have been wounded.
“The civilian hurt we documented was not restricted to communities close to the frontline. In cities throughout Ukraine, repeated assaults with missiles and aerial bombs killed and injured civilians removed from areas of energetic floor fight,” Ms. Bell mentioned.
‘The blast threw me towards a fence’
Males accounted for the vast majority of general casualties, however ladies and youngsters didn’t escape, together with an aged lady who needed to have her leg amputated following a missile assault in the Chernihiv area on 19 May.
“The blast threw me towards a fence,” she mentioned. “I noticed smoke and felt extreme ache in my proper leg. After I regarded down, I noticed that my leg had been virtually utterly torn off.”
The investigators famous that in earlier years, the variety of casualties steadily elevated throughout the spring and summer time months. Figures so far in 2026 have adopted the identical sample, however at a considerably increased degree than in earlier years.
Casualties in Russian-occupied territory
Whereas the overwhelming majority of casualties occurred in territory underneath Ukrainian Authorities management – specifically throughout 20 areas and town of Kyiv – HRMMU additionally verified that some civilians have been killed and injured in Russian-occupied territory.
In a single case, 21 civilians have been killed and others injured when a number of weapons struck an academic complicated in occupied Starobilsk, Luhansk area, throughout the night time of 21-22 May.
Hurt from short-rage drones
Assaults with short-range drones have been the first reason behind civilian casualties close to the frontline, with no less than 64 killed and 539 injured in May.
This was the highest month-to-month civilian toll brought on by these weapons since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
The investigators cited the instance of Kherson metropolis, the place 14 civilians have been killed and 221 injured. Brief-range drone assaults accounted for six of the deaths and 132 accidents.
Different civilian casualties close to the frontline resulted from aerial bombardments, artillery shelling and A number of Launch Rocket System (MLRS) assaults, and incidents involving explosive remnants of battle and mines.
HRMMU famous that in addition to the variety of civilian casualties that it has verified in Ukraine, together with in Russian-occupied areas, Russian authorities have reported that 47 civilians have been killed and 298 injured in May on Russian territory.
The mission mentioned it systematically collects and analyzes publicly accessible info on civilian casualties in Russia however can’t frequently confirm these figures on account of restricted impartial sources of knowledge.
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