Skip to content
Briefings are running a touch slower this week while we rebuild the foundations.See roadmap
Russia-Ukraine War 2026
16APR

6,530 dead by day 25 — Hengaw report

1 min read
14:27UTC

Hengaw's count reached 6,530 killed through Day 25. The eighth report, covering the last week, is overdue.

ConflictDeveloping
Key takeaway

Both sides' casualty tolls are climbing with no ceasefire in sight.

Hengaw's seventh report confirmed 6,530 killed through Day 25 (24 March), including 640 civilians, 130 children, and 173 women across 186 cities in 26 provinces. 1 An eighth report covering days 25 to 31 is overdue. Israel recorded 6,131 total hospitalisations since 28 February, with 118 currently hospitalised. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in a south Lebanon clash with Hezbollah on 31 March. 2

The civilian toll in Iran already exceeds total coalition fatalities in the 2003 Iraq invasion. The gap between Hengaw's figures and the Iranian government's official count of 1,937 remains wide and unexplained.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Hengaw is a Kurdish human rights organisation that has been tracking casualties inside Iran since the war began. Their seventh report, covering the first 25 days of the war, documented 6,530 people killed, including 640 civilians, 130 children, and 173 women. To put that in context: total coalition military fatalities in the entire 2003 Iraq invasion were around 172. Iran has lost more civilians in 25 days than the US-led coalition lost in total during the fall of Baghdad. An eighth report covering the week since then is overdue. At the documented rate of roughly 20 civilian deaths per day, the current civilian death toll in Iran likely exceeds 800 by now. On the Israeli side, 6,131 people have been hospitalised since the war began, with four soldiers killed in a clash with Hezbollah in Lebanon on 31 March.

First Reported In

Update #53 · Trump drops Hormuz goal; toll becomes law

Times of Israel· 31 Mar 2026
Read original
Different Perspectives
China
China
Beijing has not publicly commented on the dual Oreshnik launch. China's declared position of urging restraint and dialogue sits awkwardly alongside its continued economic ties with Russia; the weapons escalation tests whether Beijing's neutrality framing can survive a European IRBM normalisation event.
IAEA
IAEA
Director General Grossi condemned the ZNPP reactor-6 turbine building strike and stated "there should be no attack of any kind from or against the plant." The agency confirmed normal radiation levels but has not resolved attribution; Rosatom CEO Likachev warned the region is "one step closer to an incident."
Turkey
Turkey
Ankara hosted Istanbul Round 2 at Ciragan Palace on 2 June and secured a 1,200-for-1,200 prisoner exchange, consolidating Turkey as the war's sole diplomatic venue after Rubio confirmed US mediation has ended. Erdogan's leverage over both parties grows with each round.
European Union
European Union
EU Ambassador Mathernova answered Lavrov's evacuation demand with "We stay in Kyiv. We stay with Ukraine." The Verkhovna Rada approved the EUR 90bn EU loan on 28 May; the EUR 9.1bn first tranche, the EU's first explicit defence-procurement financing, arrives mid-June.
United States
United States
Rubio declared US mediation stagnated on 22 May and confirmed no talks were occurring, then received Lavrov's evacuation demand three days later without ordering embassy drawdown. Washington's leverage now runs through the GL 134C sanctions cliff on 17 June rather than any active diplomatic channel.
Ukraine
Ukraine
Zelenskyy called Russia's 2-3 day ceasefire counter-offer at Istanbul Round 2 "shortsighted" and submitted a full peace memorandum covering EU membership, international guarantees, phased sanctions relief and frozen-asset reparations. Kyiv's position is that a partial ceasefire freeze aids Russian reconstitution; only an all-domain 30-day pause is acceptable.