31 July 2026

July 2026 in brief

Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv killed 31 people overnight into 2 July, according to Ukraine's State Emergency Service, and at least 19 four days later, the Kyiv Independent reported, and the UN monitoring mission later said July was the deadliest month for civilians since May 2022, with at least 437 killed and 2,610 injured. ^[1][2][3] A daytime ballistic missile strike on a defence industry gathering near Kyiv on 24 July killed at least 10 people, Ukraine's Prosecutor General said, and overnight strikes on 30 to 31 July killed at least 12 civilians, including three children, according to Ukrainian authorities cited by the UN. ^[1][2] A missile barrage on Kyiv overnight into 19 July destroyed a market and damaged a WHO warehouse, the UN said, and the UN and partners launched a winter plan seeking US$358.4 million to support 2.1 million people as attacks on energy continued. ^[1][2] IOM found about 3.9 million people internally displaced in Ukraine as of June, about 132,000 of them newly displaced from January to June. ^[1] Russian commanders told Putin on 3 July that their forces had taken Kostiantynivka, which Ukraine's General Staff denied, and Ukraine said it struck the Omsk refinery among fuel sites across Russia. ^[1][2] Russia stopped civilian shipping through the Kerch Strait from 10 July after Ukrainian drone strikes on vessels in the Sea of Azov, Romania shot down drones over its territory on three consecutive days, and an object Militarnyi identified as a Russian cruise missile crashed in a field in Poland's Lublin province on 30 July. ^[1][2][3] Zelensky dismissed defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov on 15 July and later named Mykhailo Drapaty to replace commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, as thousands protested in support of Fedorov. ^[1]

Written from the records it cites; every figure appears in a cited record.