Two Way Street

← The Ukraine-Russia War: A Grinding Test of Industrial Might

Civilian Harm

Civilians are being killed in Ukraine faster than at any time since 2022, and the people of occupied Oleshky are still waiting for a way out.

UN monitors verified at least 328 civilians killed and 2,105 injured in September, the worst September of the full-scale war, and 2,570 killed from January to September, 59 per cent above the same months of 2025. The mission’s head called early October among the deadliest periods in years. On October 17 an airstrike on Kherson injured 35 people, among them a one-month-old boy; less than an hour later a second strike on the same place killed an ambulance driver, the regional prosecutor said. A day earlier, officials said, attacks across nine regions killed at least eight people and hit shopping centres in Rivne and Sumy.

In Oleshky fewer than 2,000 people remain, without power, heat or running water. On October 16 Pope Leo XIV asked Vladimir Putin for a ceasefire to let food in and civilians out, and the Kremlin said Putin was ready to cooperate. The UN says the two sides have discussed a corridor but agreed nothing, and the Red Cross will act only if both do.

New

2

The whole story5 chapters
The state of it — as of October 17, 2026
328
civilians killed in September, the most for any September of the war
2,570
civilians killed January–September 2026, verified by UN monitors
2,495 of 20,000+
children returned of those deported or abducted, on Ukraine's own count

Today

New

In Kherson, a Second Strike on the Same Spot Kills the Ambulance Driver

A Russian airstrike on Kherson at about 4 a.m. on October 17 injured 35 civilians, among them a one-month-old boy, an 11-year-old girl and two medical workers; less than an hour later a second strike on the same place killed an ambulance driver, the regional prosecutor’s office said. It counted one killed and 40 injured in the oblast that day. A day earlier, Ukrainian officials said, attacks on nine regions killed at least eight people and injured 60; drones hit shopping centres in Rivne, where one person died, and in Sumy. These are officials’ counts; the UN has not yet verified them.

Read

Ukrainska Pravdapravda.com.ua80% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.Al Jazeera Englishaljazeera.com85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.
New

The Pope Asks Putin for a Way Out of Oleshky, and the Kremlin Says It Will Cooperate

Pope Leo XIV urged Vladimir Putin by phone on October 16 to agree a ceasefire so food and medicine could reach occupied Oleshky and civilians could leave, the Vatican said; the Kremlin said Putin backed the effort and was ready to cooperate. Fewer than 2,000 of about 24,000 pre-war residents remain, AP reports, without power, heat or running water. The UN human rights office says the two sides have discussed a temporary ceasefire and corridor without agreement. The Red Cross will help only if both agree and civilians have guarantees; Ukraine’s ombudsman says Russia has given none it can verify. Occupation officials say mined roads make evacuation impossible.

Read

KCRA 3 (Hearst Television)kcra.com75% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

The Worst September of the War for Civilians, and an October Begun Worse

UN monitors verified at least 328 civilians killed and 2,105 injured in Ukraine in September, the most for any September of the full-scale war; killed and injured together ran 85 per cent above September 2025. From January to September they count 2,570 killed and 15,211 injured. Missiles and long-range drones caused just over half the casualties. Kyiv was hit hardest: 32 killed, and civilians hurt on 22 of 30 days, more often than in any earlier month. Russian authorities report deaths in occupied areas and in Russia that the UN mostly cannot verify. The mission’s head called early October among the deadliest periods in years.

Read

UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR)ukraine.ohchr.org95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR)ukraine.ohchr.org95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

Earlier this month

4

The UN Counts More Than a Hundred Civilians Killed in a Single Week

More than 100 civilians were killed and at least 429 injured in Ukraine in one week, the UN human rights office reported to the Security Council on October 9. Its briefer, Khaled Khiari, said every month of 2026 has brought more civilian casualties — killed and injured together — than the same month in any of the three previous years. Monitors’ preliminary count for September 1 to 24 was at least 200 killed and 1,234 injured. Inside Russia the office has recorded reports of 496 civilians killed and 3,394 injured since January. Some 2,000 people are reported trapped in occupied Oleshky without food or medicine.

Read

United Nationsdppa.un.org85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR)ukraine.ohchr.org95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

A Glide Bomb Hits Two Buses in Kramatorsk, and Three Cities Are Bombed in Six Days

A Russian glide bomb hit two passenger buses in Kramatorsk on October 8, about 20 kilometres from the front. Ukrainian officials counted at least 30 dead and 18 wounded; the UN was told of 33. Neither figure is independently verified. The governor, who called the strike deliberate, halted public transport in Kramatorsk and Slovyansk. On October 5 three glide bombs hit a Kharkiv apartment block and two businesses; reporters there saw bodies recovered, and local authorities counted six dead and 59 injured. On October 10 five glide bombs hit apartment blocks in Zaporizhzhia; local officials counted at least 20 dead, four of them children, and 32 injured.

Read

BBC Newsbbc.com95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.Deutsche Welle (DW)dw.com88% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.Al Jazeera Englishaljazeera.com85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.United Nationsdppa.un.org85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.Gwara Mediagwaramedia.com70% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.The Canadian Pressthecanadianpressnews.ca85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.BBC Newsbbc.com95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

Oleshky: Two Thousand People Cut Off, and No Agreed Way Out

About 2,000 people remain in Russian-occupied Oleshky without running water, power or gas, the UN human rights chief said on October 2. Residents say no food has come by road since June, when a delivery driver was killed by a mine; mines also line the routes out. Of more than 60 who left in September, 12 reached Ukrainian-held ground, the town’s exiled administrator says. On October 8 Ukraine’s ombudsman reported no breakthrough on an evacuation: Kyiv has offered a local ceasefire, and the Red Cross will mediate if both sides agree. Each side blames the other. Ukraine has dropped food by drone; residents interviewed said they received none.

Read

United Nationsnews.un.org85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.The Moscow Timesthemoscowtimes.com85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.The Kyiv Independentkyivindependent.com85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.Ukrinformukrinform.net60% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.The Ukrainian Week (Tyzhden)ukrainianweek.com65% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

The Toronto Pledge: Returns Promised, With No Number and No Deadline

A conference in Toronto on September 28–29 on returning Ukrainian children, detained civilians and prisoners of war, chaired by Canada, Ukraine and Norway, ended with a communiqué endorsed by more than fifty states and organisations: the Toronto Pledge. It commits them to support tracing, returns and reintegration, with no number, fund or deadline. It concedes that for detained civilians ‘no predictable mechanism for their release and return has yet emerged’, and makes an all-for-all prisoner exchange an objective. A week earlier a UN inquiry found children in occupied areas schooled on the Russian curriculum under coercion, with weapons training compulsory from fourteen.

Read

European Commissionenlargement.ec.europa.eu90% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR)ohchr.org95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

This quarter

8

Russia Keeps Moving Ukrainian Detainees Into Its Prisons, and Sentencing Those It Leaves

Russia is continuing to move Ukrainian detainees off occupied land into its own prison system, and to hand down decades-long sentences to those who remain. The Crimean Tribunal group reported on 31 August that activist Ksenia Svetlishina, sentenced to 13 years in 2024, was deported from occupied Crimea to a Vologda women's prison; Donbas News reported five Ukrainian POWs and one civilian moved from a Makiivka colony into Russian penal colonies, in declining health. ISW assesses the transfers likely breach the Fourth Geneva Convention, which bars deporting civilian detainees into the occupying state, and logged seven fresh 13-to-23-year treason and espionage sentences across occupied Ukraine.

Read

Institute for the Study of Warunderstandingwar.org95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

Ukraine Counts 20,000 Children Deported and 2,495 Returned, and Gets a Conference Date

The General Assembly gave 1 September to Ukraine's occupied territories. Its president Annalena Baerbock put civilian casualties in the first half of 2026 at 114 per cent above the same period of 2024. Ukraine's deputy foreign minister, Mariana Betsa, told the chamber that more than 20,000 Ukrainian children have been deported or abducted and 2,495 have come back — Kyiv's own figures, the deportation count an allegation. The Nordic and Baltic states backed the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression, and Toronto hosts a second Canada-Norway-Ukraine ministerial on returning children, detained civilians and prisoners of war on 28-29 September.

Read

United Nationspress.un.org85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.Government of Canadacanada.ca75% credibilityEarned from 1 checked claim.Interfax-Ukraineen.interfax.com.ua80% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

Eight Months of 2026 Have Now Cost More Civilian Lives Than All of 2025

UN human rights monitors verified 372 civilians killed and 2,349 injured in Ukraine in August — the second-highest monthly total of 2026, after July’s 448 and 2,675. Across January to August they verified 2,222 killed and 13,058 injured: more than in the whole of 2025, 55 per cent above the same eight months last year, and more than double the same period of 2024. Long-range missiles and drones caused 47 per cent of August’s casualties, mostly in cities far from the front; short-range drones caused 30 per cent near the line. In occupied territory the mission verified 4 killed and 35 injured, a fraction of what Russian authorities assert there and inside Russia — claims the monitors say they cannot check for want of independent access.

Read

UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR)ukraine.ohchr.org95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR)ukraine.ohchr.org95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

July Was the Deadliest Month for Civilians in Four Years, and the Count Is Now Kept on Both Sides

Briefing the Security Council on 24 August, the UN's Rosemary DiCarlo said more civilians were killed in Ukraine in July than in any month since May 2022: at least 17 children killed and 166 injured, the worst month for children since April 2022, with August's figures pointing the same way. OHCHR has now verified 16,874 civilians killed in Ukraine since February 2022, including 820 children, and 51,273 injured, including 3,126 children. She read the other side of the ledger from Russia's own reporting: 329 civilians killed and 2,197 injured inside Russia between January and July, up 119 percent year on year. Among the named incidents in Ukraine, a drone strike on Kryvyi Rih's largest shopping centre on 21 August reportedly killed 16 and wounded more than 140, 23 of them children.

Read

UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR)ukraine.ohchr.org95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.ReliefWeb (UN OCHA)reliefweb.int90% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

A Russian Army Unit Films Itself Killing a Cyclist, Then Takes the Video Down

Geolocated footage published on 22 August shows an FPV drone striking a Ukrainian civilian riding a bicycle west of Pershomarivka, east of Kramatorsk. What distinguishes it from the rest of this record is who posted it: the official account of Russia's 3rd Combined Arms Army, showing its own 2nd Artillery Brigade — and then deleted it, which the Russian opposition outlet Astra reads as recognition that the video documents an unequivocal war crime. A second FPV strike near Druzhkivka the same day killed one person in a civilian car and injured another. ISW assesses that Russia's use of FPV drones against civilians in the near rear reflects a military culture that institutionalises intentional civilian harm.

Read

Institute for the Study of Warunderstandingwar.org95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

A Russian Drone Kills Four in a Kherson Minibus, and ISW Calls the Hunting of Civilians a Policy

A Russian first-person-view drone deliberately struck a minibus in Kherson City on August 19, killing four civilians and injuring five, with geolocated footage of the aftermath. The Institute for the Study of War assessed the attack as part of a pervasive culture within the Russian military that has institutionalised intentional civilian harm as a purposeful tool of war, singling out the FPV "hunting" of civilians in the Ukrainian near-rear and especially in Kherson. It follows the filmed August 4 killing of a Kherson vegetable seller and the United Nations' finding that short-range drones near the front killed 111 civilians in July alone — the same documented pattern, now with a body count for a single strike.

Read

Institute for the Study of Warunderstandingwar.org95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

The UN Puts a Number on Russia's Detention System, and Its Own on Ukraine's

At a UN Security Council Arria-formula session convened by Latvia and the UK, Assistant Secretary-General Claudia Fuentes Julio set out what her office has verified. More than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians remain in Russian custody, many incommunicado. It has documented 129 Ukrainian prisoners of war executed at capture and 48 dead in custody. Of 910 released Ukrainian prisoners of war interviewed, more than 95 per cent reported torture or ill-treatment; of 403 released civilians, 85 per cent. Russia has never granted access. In Ukraine, where it has access, about half of 816 Russian prisoners of war reported ill-treatment, mostly at capture. Russia’s deputy ambassador called the meeting disinformation. The office urged states to prepare all-for-all exchange arrangements now.

Read

United Nationstranscripts.un.org85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.Security Council Reportsecuritycouncilreport.org90% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.PBS NewsHourpbs.org90% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.Euronewseuronews.com85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.

A Drone Hunts a Vegetable Seller in Kherson, and Ukraine Calls It a War Crime

A video published by Ukrainian police shows a Russian FPV drone stalking Yuriy, a 52-year-old vegetable seller, through a market in Kherson’s Tavriiskyi district before diving onto him; he survived with blast trauma and shrapnel wounds. He holds up garlic to the camera to show he is not filming. BBC Verify geolocated it a few miles from the front. Zelensky called it a Russian “safari” against civilians; Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it a “barbaric war crime”. A 2025 UN report found Russian forces had “recurrently killed and injured civilians” there with drones. Russia denies targeting civilians. In July the UN mission counted 111 civilians killed and 710 injured by short-range drones, 27 per cent of all it verified.

Read

BBC Newsbbc.com95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertyrferl.org85% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (OHCHR)ukraine.ohchr.org95% credibility · not yet testedAn opening estimate from its institutional history — none of its claims checked yet.
Covered since Aug 2026Read it from the start →