Key trends
- In the Donetsk region, Russian forces seized two villages north and northwest of Velyka Novosilka and continued advancing around Pokrovsk and south of Kostiantynivka.
- Russian forces seized one settlement near the international border north of Sumy city.
- ACLED records at least 30 Russian long-range missile and drone strikes, over a third of them in Kyiv city and the surrounding region.
- Russian shelling, missiles, and drones killed at least 44 civilians in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odesa, and Sumy regions, as well as in the city of Kyiv. Additionally, Ukrainian drones reportedly killed at least four civilians in the occupied parts of the Donetsk, Kherson, and Luhansk regions.
Key events
- 16 Jun. | Kyiv – Russia returns the bodies of more than 6,000 Ukrainian soldiers
- 17 Jun. | Odesa – Russian drones hit Odesa city center, killing two civilians and wounding 26
- 18 Jun. | Zaporizhia – Ukraine’s intelligence services shoot dead a Ukrainian politician who joined the Russian government in occupied Berdiansk
Spotlight: Russia launches one of the deadliest strikes on Kyiv city
Overnight on 17 June, Russia launched 16 missiles and 175 drones on Kyiv city,1Yuliia Abramova, “The number of victims of the Russian strike on a residential building increased in Kyiv — State Emergency Service (photo),” TSN, 17 June 2025 (Ukrainian) killing 28 civilians and wounding over 140. ACLED records casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure in seven out of 10 of Kyiv’s districts. This includes substantial damage to over 50 residential houses, as well as several educational institutions, non-residential buildings, and railway infrastructure.2BBC News, “A high-rise building destroyed in Kyiv by a Russian strike – many dead and injured, people are under the rubble,” 17 June 2025 (Ukrainian) One of the missiles collapsed a nine-story apartment building in the Solomyanskyi district of the city. Over 400 emergency workers spent two days on recovery work, retrieving the bodies of 23 civilians from under the rubble.3Facebook @State Emergency Service of Ukraine, 19 June 2025 (Ukrainian) In the Darnytskyi district, a Russian drone flew into a high-rise residential building, damaging several floors and killing three civilians. Local authorities also reported finding remains of cluster munitions in the Shevchenkivskyi district.4Radio Free Europe, “Kyiv authorities warn of explosive debris, cluster munitions after Russian strike,” 17 June 2025 (Ukrainian)
Further strikes were also recorded in the surrounding Kyiv region, where a civilian was wounded, and several private houses and other infrastructure were damaged in four separate districts.
The 17 June attack was the deadliest attack on Kyiv city after the strikes on 8 July 2024 and 29 December 2023 that claimed the lives of 34 and 32 people, respectively. More recently, on 24 April 2025, Russian drones and missiles killed 13 and wounded 90 civilians across the city. The frequency of Russian attacks on Kyiv city and the eponymous region has been on the rise since mid-May.
Explore the ACLED Conflict Exposure tool to assess the numbers of people affected by armed violence, disaggregated by locations, time period, and actors involved.