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KYIV, Ukraine, Aug 13 : The number of civilians killed in Ukraine in July jumped to its highest level since the first months of the Russian invasion, the United Nations said Thursday, as Moscow intensified its 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 percent increase compared with the previous month and a 70 percent increase compared with July 2025," the UN 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 spiralled into Europe's deadliest since World War II, with US-led efforts at halting the fighting having made no progress.

The UN said it has verified the deaths of 16,874 civilians since Russia invaded, though 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 Zelensky has pleaded with allies to deliver more advanced air defence systems -- particularly US 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 UN said.

For the first years of the war, the capital was relatively well protected, but shortages of air defence 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."