How many children have been killed in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine? A new Meduza investigation finds at least 940.

An investigation found at least 940 children have died in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine as of early September 2026, a minimum figure built from U.N. data, news reports and official statements, and higher than either government's own public tallies. The count found 873 confirmed child deaths within Ukraine's internationally recognized borders, including occupied Crimea and parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, and 67 within Russia's own territory.

The investigation notes its total is almost certainly an undercount, since the U.N. itself says it cannot quickly verify every report, particularly in long-contested areas like Mariupol, where at least 120 children are confirmed dead in the war's opening months alone. Child casualties have risen faster in 2026, with Ukraine recording its highest monthly toll since the invasion's early weeks and Russia recording more child deaths this year than in any prior full year of the war.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.