At least 139 civilians were killed and 738 injured in Ukraine in January 2025. Monitoring mission: Short-range drones are the most dangerous weapon for Ukrainian civilians Peace and security
Short-range drones caused more casualties in January 2025 than any other weapon used in the conflict in Ukraine, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said on Tuesday.
The growing number of casualties caused by short-range drones, including those with first-person cameras, is of grave concern, the HRMMU noted.
According to verified data, at least 139 civilians were killed and 738 were injured in Ukraine in January 2025. Of these, 38 civilians were killed and 223 were injured as a result of short-range drone attacks.
Mortal Threat
“Short-range drones currently pose one of the most lethal threats to civilians in frontline areas,” said Danielle Bell, Head of Mission. “In January 2025, short-range drones killed and injured more civilians than any other weapon, hitting people in their cars, buses and on the streets.”
According to the HRMMU, 95 per cent of civilian deaths from short-range drone attacks in January occurred in territory controlled by Ukraine. Five percent are in territory occupied by the Russian Federation.
Short-range drones
The drones used in most of the short-range attacks were likely first-person view drones, the mission believes. These drones are equipped with cameras that give their operators a real-time view of the ground and potential targets.
The majority of civilian casualties from short-range drone attacks were recorded in government-controlled areas of the Kherson region, particularly along the Dnieper River. In January, such drones accounted for 70 percent of all civilian casualties in the region. For example, on the afternoon of 6 January, when many people were driving home from work, a short-range drone dropped explosives on a bus in Kherson, killing a man and a woman and wounding eight other civilians.
The HRMMU also recorded an increase in civilian casualties from drone attacks in other frontline areas, including in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions.
Short-range drones also kill and wound civilians in the territory occupied by the Russian Federation, in particular in the Donetsk region. Thus, on the morning of January 12, a drone struck a public transport bus in Gorlovka, killing the driver.
“Our data shows a clear and very disturbing trend of using short-range drones against civilians,” noted Danielle Bell. “Onboard cameras allow operators to distinguish civilians from military targets with greater confidence, but civilians continue to die.”