Kyiv, 17 September 2026 – Attacks against retail, food and logistics companies surged in August, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) reported today in its monthly update on civilian harm.
The increase in attacks against commercial companies comes amid continued high numbers of civilian casualties, HRMMU said. HRMMU verified more civilians killed and injured in the first eight months of 2026 than in the entire year of 2025.
“These attacks are striking at the infrastructure of everyday civilian life, the places where people buy food, receive deliveries, shop and access services,” said Danielle Bell, head of HRMMU. “And they are taking place amid a level of civilian deaths and injuries that we have not seen since the early months of the full-scale invasion.”
HRMMU documented 32 attacks against facilities belonging to six major Ukrainian food, retail and logistics companies across multiple regions of Ukraine in August, compared with 11 attacks against the same companies in July. Some of the hardest hit included Fozzy Group (attacked at least nine times), Epicentr (seven times), Nova Poshta (five times), Rozetka (four times), Aurora (four times), and Varus (three times). Russian armed forces also attacked gas stations across the country.
Fozzy Group and Varus manage supermarkets and grocery stores across Ukraine. The attacks on their warehouses and distribution centers caused temporary shortages of certain types of food products.
In several attacks, Russian armed forces also struck shopping centers. In one incident in the afternoon on 21 August, two drones hit the shopping center Soniachna Gallereia (Sun Gallery) in Kryvyi Rih aproximately 30 minutes apart while it was full of civilians. The strikes killed at least 13 civilians and injured 126, including at least 21 children. Verification of killed or missing civilians continues.
Attacks on commercial companies and shopping centres continued in September, HRMMU noted. On 9 September, a drone struck the entrance of the Manufactura shopping center in Sumy city, killing 2 civilians and injuring 22 others, including 4 children. On 10 September, a drone hit the parking area of the Gulliver shopping center in Pavlohrad, killing 5 civilians and injuring 67 individuals, according to local authorities.
In the Russian Federation, HRMMU documented that Ukrainian armed forces repeatedly attacked facilities of the companies Wildberries (at least 10 times) and Ozon (seven times), both large online marketplace companies. The Ukrainian armed forces also continued to attack oil refineries in the Russian Federation, with at least 19 such attacks recorded in August.
Under international humanitarian law, objects that contribute economically or financially to the war effort of a party to a conflict may not be lawfully made the target of attack on that basis alone as they do not fulfil the definition of a military objective under international humanitarian law.
In territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine, HRMMU verified that conflict-related violence killed at least 368 civilians and injured 2,314 people in August.
In occupied territory of Ukraine, HRMMU verified that conflict-related violence killed at least 4 civilians and injured 35 in August. Increasing restrictions on civic space in occupied territory have reduced the amount of information publicly available about casualties. The actual number of casualties is therefore likely significantly higher.
Russian authorities have reported that 113 civilians were killed and 736 injured in the Russian Federation in August. HRMMU is not able to verify civilian casualties in the Russian Federation due to lack independent sources of information.
While lower than in July, the high casualty number in August continues a trend of significantly higher casualty numbers in 2026 than in the previous three years. The total number of verified casualties in August (372 killed and 2,349 injured) was 125 percent higher than in August 2025 (260 killed and 949 injured).
“Just eight months into 2026, already more civilians have been killed and injured than the whole of 2025,” Bell said. “Particularly disturbing is how many people were killed in August during their everyday lives: at a railway station, shopping, at work or in an elderly care facility.”
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