UN rights chief reports 15,280 civilians killed and injured in Ukraine in eight months
2 October 2026
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told a session in Geneva that the war in Ukraine is a human rights catastrophe that is growing and intensifying by the week.
His office verified 15,280 civilians killed and injured in Ukraine in the first eight months of this year, an average of more than 400 every week and 55 per cent more than in the same period in 2025.
The use of aerial glide bombs in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions killed and injured nearly 2,500 civilians in those eight months, 62 per cent more than a year earlier.
Air raid alerts in Kyiv were active for 33 hours during one 48-hour period in the week before the briefing.
An estimated 2,000 people are trapped in Oleshky without running water, electricity or gas.
Mr Türk called for confidence-building measures including local ceasefires, an end to attacks on energy infrastructure and a full exchange of prisoners of war.
In plain words
OHCHR Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights — The UN body that monitors and reports on human rights worldwide, based in Geneva.
Glide bomb Guided glide bomb — An ordinary bomb fitted with wings and guidance so an aircraft can release it far from the target.