The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) recorded at least 211 civilians killed and 1,206 wounded in March — a 49% increase from the previous month — with small drones accounting for more deaths than any other weapon, the mission reported on 10 April.
Small drones killed 66 civilians in March alone, the HRMMU reports. The figure is 70% higher than the same month in 2025, when 36 civilians were killed and 220 wounded by the same weapon type. Year over year, drone casualties rose by 121% between 2024 and 2025: from 226 killed and 1,528 wounded to 580 killed and 3,295 wounded, according to the mission.
April has brought no respite. In the first nine days of the month, at least 46 civilians were killed and 343 wounded, the HRMMU reports. On 4 April, a morning drone strike on a market in the frontline city of Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killed five civilians and wounded at least 26, including a 14-year-old girl. Three days later, on 7 April, a drone strike on a city bus killed four civilians and wounded 17.
"Frontline areas are extremely dangerous for civilians, mainly because of small drones," said Danielle Bell, head of the HRMMU. "Last month, half of the civilians killed in these areas were older persons. Some of them were attacked by drones while going to collect their pension or working in their gardens — at the very moment they were just trying to live their normal lives."
Casualties were documented across 19 oblasts and Kyiv in March, with 97% recorded on Ukrainian government-controlled territory, according to the mission.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has confirmed at least 15,578 civilians killed — including 784 children — and 43,352 wounded, including 2,668 children.
