Damaged building in Kyiv. (Archive) Ukraine: UN monitoring mission provided data on civilian casualties Peace and Security
In March, the number of civilian casualties in Ukraine increased by 49 percent compared to the previous month. At least 211 people were killed and 1,206 injured, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country (HRMMU) said in its latest monthly report released on Friday.
The mission also notes that in just nine days in April, at least 46 civilians were killed and 343 were injured. The largest number of civilians – 66 people – were killed as a result of short-range drone attacks.
In April, drone strikes continued: for example, on April 4, in the front-line city of Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region, an attack using short-range unmanned aerial vehicles on a local market killed five civilians and 26 people, including a 14-year-old girl, were injured. Three days later, on April 7, a short-range drone strike on a bus killed four people and injured 17.
The mission says the number of victims of such attacks has increased significantly over the past two years. In 2025, the rate was 121 percent higher than in 2024, and in March 2026 it was 70 percent higher than in March 2025.
“Front-line areas are extremely dangerous for civilians, mainly due to short-range drones,” said HRMMU head Danielle Bell. She said that in these areas, half of the civilian casualties last month were elderly. Some of them were “collecting their pensions or working in their gardens” at the time of the attacks, Bell added. children.