Record Civilian Toll in Ukraine

CNN reported on the 26th (local time), citing Ukrainian government figures, that at least 377 civilians were killed and 2129 were injured in Ukraine this month as a result of Russian attacks. This is the largest monthly civilian toll since April 2022, when the Russia·Ukraine war began.

Russia has recently been using ballistic missiles to strike Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia fired more than 50 ballistic missiles over the past week. About 1700 drones and around 1630 guided aerial bombs were also launched.

In the early hours of the same day, Russia also launched seven ballistic missiles and 136 drones at Kyiv and other areas. At least six people were killed and dozens were injured. The dead included two 9-year-old children.

Attacks on Medical Facilities

Ukrainian hospitals and ambulances are increasingly coming under Russian drone and missile attack, even though, according to the international rules of war known as the Geneva Conventions, they must be protected by all parties to the conflict.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has registered 3,118 attacks on healthcare since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. That’s two cases per day, according to Dr Jarno Habicht, the WHO’s representative in Ukraine.

Since 2023 the number of attacks on healthcare has steadily grown. In 2024 it went up by 30%. Last year there was another 20% increase. This trend is expected to continue this year.

A recent Doctors Without Borders (MSF) report says that Russia systematically and often deliberately targets Ukrainian medical facilities. The frequency of attacks on healthcare suggests that they are ‘a sustained feature of the war rather than an episodic consequence of large scale offensives,’ the report said.

Escalating Violence in the West Bank

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered a ‘wide-scale military operation’ in Palestinian villages across the occupied West Bank following an attack near the illegal Havat Gilad settlement that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three others.

According to sources and witnesses, Israeli settlers attacked several Palestinian communities in the Nablus governorate, setting fire to Palestinian homes and other property.

The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis in attacks across the West Bank since the beginning of the year, 21 of them by settlers, who critics say have become emboldened by the lack of international pressure on Israel to end its siege of Gaza, as well as the rhetoric of far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese on Saturday described Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians across the occupied West Bank as ‘pogroms,’ calling for an immediate arms embargo and a halt to trade with Israel.

Arms embargo now — stop trade now,’ Albanese said, adding that such measures are required under international law.