Russian strikes kill 18 civilians in Ukraine on 15 July
Russian military strikes on July 15, 2026, killed 18 civilians in the Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Sumy Regions (Oblasts), and injured at least 104 people, including in the Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine’s National Police reported.
The body of a victim of a Russian strike in SumyThe victims of the Russian strikes over the past 24 hours included:
- three people in Zaporizhzhia;
- four people in Orikhiv, Vilniansk and Kalynivka in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast;
- two men and a woman in Sumy;
- three people in Yasna Poliana in the Donetsk Oblast;
- a business facility worker in the Mykolaiv Oblast;
- one person in the Chernihiv Oblast;
- a man in Kherson, who was targeted by a Russian drone.
The highest number of casualties from Russian strikes on Wednesday occurred in the Sumy Oblast. At least 31 civilians were injured in the region, including two teenagers and many older adults.
In the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Russian forces injured 20 people, including residents of the regional capital, Novopavlivka and Osavulske.
In the Kharkiv Oblast, Russian military strikes injured 17 civilians on 15 July, including a teenager.
In the Kherson Oblast, the Russian army injured 15 locals with strikes, including an emergency responder. The daily casualty report also included three civilians injured by Russian shelling in Kherson days earlier.
In the Donetsk Oblast, which Russian forces targeted with over 1,300 strikes on 15 July, 14 people were injured in Yasna Poliana, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk and Adamivka.
Russian strikes injured three civilians in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and one person in the Mykolaiv Oblast on 15 July.
On July 14, Russian military strikes killed five civilians.
Previously, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) on 14 July stated in its monthly report that at least 293 civilians were killed in Russian strikes in June, 2026. It is the highest monthly death toll since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, UN human rights experts have said.
Infographics by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine“The figures show an alarming escalatory trend with mounting civilian toll, driven by the intensifying use of powerful weapons that are particularly deadly when used in densely populated urban areas,” said Danielle Bell, who heads HRMMU. “This trend should serve as a warning that the risks facing civilians are not only persisting but growing in both scale and complexity.”
HRMMU also reported that a total of 1,396 civilians were killed and 7,978 injured over the first six months of this year, up 37% on the same period in 2025 and up 114% compared with the first half of 2024.
Infographics by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in UkraineSince 24 February 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has verified at least 16,431 civilians killed, including 803 children, and 48,613 injured, including 2,960 children.
Human rights organisations and Ukrainian authorities emphasise that structural economic pressure remains a key tool to halt such atrocities. They urge every nation and individual government worldwide to strictly enforce global sanctions, close existing regulatory loopholes, and completely sever remaining commercial and technological ties with the Russian Federation. Civil society groups stress that any continued cooperation by foreign businesses directly contributes to the resources Moscow uses to sustain its ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
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