Russians kill six civilians across Ukraine on May 18
Six civilians were killed in the Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Kherson regions due to Russian shelling on May 18, while at least 31 others were injured, including in the Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Sumy, and Odesa regions, according to the National Police of Ukraine.
A fire that broke out at the site of one of the Russian strikes in the Kharkiv OblastThe victims of Russian shelling on May 18 included:
- Two civilians in the Kharkiv Oblast who were killed in Russian drone strikes;
- An elderly moped driver targeted by a Russian drone and another man in the Kherson Oblast;
- Two people in Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka in the Donetsk Oblast.
At least 12 people, including a 6-year-old child, were injured in Russian strikes across the Kharkiv Oblast.
Another eight civilians, many of them elderly, were wounded by Russian shelling in the Kherson Oblast. The region’s daily report also included six local residents who had been injured in Russian strikes days earlier.
A high-rise apartment building in the Donetsk Oblast shelled by the Russian militaryThree civilians each were injured in the Donetsk, Chernihiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, which Russia targeted the previous day with drones, guided aerial bombs, and artillery.
In the Sumy Oblast, two people were wounded due to enemy shelling over the past day. Likewise, two people, including a child, sustained injuries during a Russian overnight strike on the Odesa Oblast on May 18.
A truck burns following a Russian strike in the Chernihiv regionTo provide background, Russian shelling killed three civilians in Ukraine on May 17.
Previously, Interfax-Ukraine, a Ukrainian news agency, citing data presented by Kayoko Gotoh, head of the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, at a UN Security Council meeting on May 19 reported that at least 238 civilians were killed and 1,404 were injured in Ukraine as a result of Russian attacks in April 2026. Gotoh stated that this is the highest monthly number of civilian casualties since July 2025, and data reflect a continuing pattern of rising civilian harm.
She noted that last week saw one of the largest aerial bombardments of Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion.
In total, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has verified the deaths of 15,850 civilians in Ukraine since February 2022, including 791 children. Another 44,809 people, including 2,752 children, have been injured.
Brussels has criticized the US decision to extend a sanctions waiver on Russian oil sales, warning that the move will only increase Moscow’s financial gains since the start of the Iran war, Euractiv reported.
“From the EU point of view, we do not think that this is the time to ease pressure on Russia,” Valdis Dombrovskis, EU economy commissioner, told reporters on May 19 ahead of a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Paris.
“In fact, Russia is the one that is gaining from the war in Iran and the increase in fossil fuel prices,” he added. “Correspondingly, if anything, we need to strengthen that pressure.”
The remarks come after Scott Bessent, US treasury secretary, announced on Monday night that Washington would extend by 30 days a sanctions waiver for Russian oil already at sea.
You may also want to read: European, Japanese, and U.S. parts helped Russia build missiles that killed 24, including three children, in Kyiv – Zelenskyy
Ukrainian experts point out that countries, including China, the United States of America, North Korea, Hungary, Slovakia, Iran, and Brazil, assist Moscow in killing Ukrainians in its war against Ukraine by funding the Russian budget through trade.
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