The mission said civilians were killed and injured across 22 regions of Ukraine and in Kyiv. In the capital alone, casualties were recorded on 22 of the month's 30 days — more frequently than in any previous month since the invasion, Crimea.Realities reported, citing the mission's findings. Kyiv recorded 32 deaths and 340 injuries in September, Kherson 16 deaths and 202 injuries, Sumy 11 and 131 respectively, and Zaporizhzhia 7 deaths and 127 injuries.
Between January and September 2026, 2,570 civilians were killed and 15,211 injured in Ukraine, according to the mission — 59% more than in the same period of 2025. The Moscow Times noted that this is more than double the figure for the same period in 2024.
Confirmed September data include 18 deaths and 44 injuries on Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine. The mission said the actual number there is likely significantly higher, and that the lack of access and independent sources of information makes verification of many incidents difficult.
July remains the deadliest month of 2026, with at least 437 civilians killed and 2,610 injured. According to the mission, that is the highest monthly civilian toll since May 2022.
Russian attacks on civilian targets continued in October. On October 7, a strike on Pryluky in the Chernihiv region killed 22 people, five of them children. On October 8, a strike on a minibus in Kramatorsk killed 30 people. According to the UN Human Rights Office as of October 9, more than 100 civilians were killed and at least 429 injured across Ukraine in a single week of the month.
Danielle Bell, head of the Monitoring Mission, said the first two weeks of October were among the deadliest for civilians in recent years. UN Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari said at a briefing on October 9 that Russia's attacks on Ukraine had reached a new level, with more casualties registered in each month than in the corresponding month of any of the previous three years.
UN experts link the high death toll to the resumption of systematic attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, which have caused emergency blackouts. According to The Moscow Times, supplies of American interceptors for Patriot systems have declined markedly, and air defense's ability to protect cities from drones has been reduced by Russia's use of jet-powered drones.
Amid the intensified attacks, a conflict has emerged between Ukraine and the United States. Trump demanded that Kyiv stop strikes on Russian oil refineries and then struck a deal with Vladimir Putin on supplies of diesel fuel from Russia to American and global markets. Zelensky confirmed that Washington threatened to halt intelligence sharing if the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not stop hitting refineries. On at least October 12 and 13, the Americans did not warn Ukraine about ballistic missile launches from Russian territory — air raid alerts in cities began only after the first explosions.