During the first two months of 2026, 60 per cent of all civilian casualties in Ukraine occurred in frontline regions, with nearly half of those killed being older adults, according to Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif. She reported to the Human Rights Council in Geneva that the primary cause of death and injury was attacks involving short-range drones, affecting both Ukrainian government-controlled areas and Russian-occupied territory. UN data indicates that in 2025, at least 580 civilians were killed and 3,000 injured in such attacks, whereas in just the first two months of 2026, 107 civilians were killed and 430 injured, nearly doubling the casualty rate. Most casualties, about 95 per cent, occurred in government-controlled regions targeted by drones.
Frontline areas under Russian occupation remain extremely dangerous. In Oleshky district of Kherson, residents face frequent drone attacks, landmines, and severe challenges in evacuation, leaving many trapped near the frontlines with critical food and humanitarian needs. Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have intensified this winter, targeting systems that heat residential buildings and causing widespread hardship. Over half of Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity has been lost, leading to power outages of up to 22 hours per day in some regions, leaving hundreds of thousands of civilians without heating amid temperatures below minus 15°C. UNICEF warned that these attacks have disrupted water, sanitation, and electricity, causing children to lose 79 to 88 per cent of effective learning time between mid-January and mid-February.
The Deputy High Commissioner also raised concerns about Russia’s treatment of captured Ukrainian soldiers. Over 96 per cent of interviewed prisoners of war reported torture and ill-treatment since the invasion began in February 2022. She called on Russia to halt extrajudicial executions, torture, and other violations against prisoners and civilians, and urged Ukraine to safeguard its prisoners from abuse and end discrimination against civilians forced to leave Russian-occupied areas.
Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, emphasized the war’s devastating impact on civilians in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Crimea, describing Russia’s actions as a deliberate strategy to terrorize civilians and suppress dissent. The Russian delegation dismissed the UN update, accusing it of supporting Kyiv, while other UN Human Rights Council members condemned the targeting of civilians. Germany highlighted the rise in missile and drone attacks causing civilian casualties, and China reiterated its commitment to promoting peace talks and a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis.
