UN warns short range drones deadliest threat to civilians in Ukraine

By Anjali Sharma

UNITED NATIONS UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) on Tuesday said in a new report released that in January 2025, short-range drones caused more casualties than any other weapon in Ukraine.

It noted that increasing reports of these drones striking civilians in cars, on buses and on public streets, UN monitors have raised serious concerns about potential violations of international humanitarian law.

According to HRMMU’s latest monthly update on the protection of civilians, at least 139 were killed and 738 injured in Ukraine last month.

The attacks using short-range drones accounted for almost 30 per cent of these incidents, the report said.

Danielle Bell, Head of HRMMU said “Short-range drones now pose one of the deadliest threats to civilians in frontline areas”.

The mission reported that 95 per cent of casualties from short-range drones in January occurred in territory controlled by Ukraine, with the remaining five per cent in areas occupied by Russia.

Many of the attacks involved first-person-view drones, that is, drones equipped with real time cameras, allowing operators to identify and track their targets with precision.

It said that such technology should, in theory, enable drone operators to distinguish between military and civilian targets, the UN’s findings suggest otherwise.

“Our data shows a clear and disturbing pattern of short-range drones being used in ways that put civilians at grave risk,” Ms. Bell noted.

The year 2025 brought no respite in frontline regions but rather an escalation and even expansion of the fighting.

Casualties due to short-range drones were responsible for 70 per cent of civilian deaths in the Kherson region, which suffered the highest number of casualties.

One of the most shocking incidents took place on 6 January, when a drone targeted a public transit bus in Kherson City during rush hour. The attack killed a man and a woman and injured 8 others.

HRMMU recorded an increase in drone-related casualties in other frontline regions, including Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.

HRMMU’s data showed a sharp increase in civilian casualties from short-range drones throughout 2024, with a particularly alarming spike in the last six months.

“The on-board cameras should allow operators to distinguish with a higher degree of certainty between civilians and military objectives”, Ms. Bell said, “yet civilians continue to be killed in alarming numbers”.

UN monitors have reiterated calls for all parties to take immediate measures to safeguard civilians, in line with international humanitarian principles AS Ukraine’s conflict continues.

The civilians across Ukraine facing short range drones in the vast amount, the report concluded.