UN says civilian casualties in Ukraine have spiked

UN says civilian casualties in Ukraine have spiked

The United Nations says at least 437 civilians were killed last month in Ukraine. That's the highest figure since May 2022 during the initial stages of Russia's invasion.

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine also said on Thursday that the number of child deaths and injuries in July stood at over 180. The figure is the highest since April 2022.

The human rights watchdog says increasingly limited information in occupied Ukrainian territory has made verification more challenging, and that the actual numbers are likely significantly higher.

The UN says long-range weapons including missiles and drones remain the leading cause of civilian casualties, mostly far from the front lines in urban centers.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again said his country's air defenses need support.

He posted a message to social media on Friday, saying: "This year, we have two and a half times fewer interceptors than we had in 2025. Russia has two times more ballistic missiles per month than they had before."

Zelenskyy says "we will go through the winter and save people's lives" if the United States sells Ukraine 5 percent of its PAC-3 interceptor missiles.