Civilian deaths in Ukraine rose in July to their highest monthly level since the first months of Russia’s invasion, the U.N. said Thursday, as Moscow intensified long-range missile strikes.

Russia fired a record number of missiles at Ukraine during the month, AFP analysis of data published by Kyiv's air force showed, raining hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles down on the Ukrainian capital.

"At least 437 civilians were killed and 2,610 injured in Ukraine in July, a 30% increase compared with the previous month and a 70% increase compared with July 2025," the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission said in a statement.

"The number of those killed is the highest recorded since May 2022," it added.

Hundreds of thousands – mostly soldiers from both sides – have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

The conflict has spiraled into Europe's deadliest since World War II, with U.S.-led efforts at halting the fighting having made no progress.

The U.N. said it has verified the deaths of 16,874 civilians since Russia invaded, though it cautions this is likely a significant underestimate since it cannot confirm casualties in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russian troops.

That includes Mariupol, the port city Russia laid siege to at the start of the war, where thousands are widely believed to have died.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pleaded with allies to deliver more advanced air defense systems – particularly U.S. Patriots – to fend off the attacks by super-fast ballistic missiles, whose trajectory and speed make them hard to stop.

At least 54 civilians were killed in Kyiv during the month – "one of the hardest hit cities", the U.N. said.

For the first years of the war, the capital was relatively well protected, but shortages of air defense and Russia's intensifying strikes have left it exposed.

Ukraine has also increased its own long-range attacks on Russia – justifying them as retaliatory strikes designed to hit Moscow's war machine and dent its vital energy revenues.

Russian authorities reported an increase in the number of civilians killed to 79 in July.

But the United Nations said it had not been able to "independently verify these figures to its verification standards due to lack of access and limited information."