In accordance with the rights mission, whereas the bulk (89 per cent) of civilian casualties have been documented in Ukrainian-controlled territory because of assaults by the Russian armed forces, the remaining occurred in territory occupied by Russian authorities, together with in assaults that struck public transport and clearly marked ambulances.
Whereas individually much less harmful than artillery or missiles, “the sheer scale and rising frequency of short-range drone assaults have made them one of many deadliest weapons in Ukraine,” mentioned Danielle Bell, Head of HRMMU.
Not compliant with legal guidelines of battle
Forcing residents to drastically prohibit their actions, limiting entry to important items and affecting livelihoods, the massive variety of short-range drone assaults exacerbated an already dire humanitarian scenario.
Most short-range drones have on-board cameras that present operators with a real-time view of potential targets.
Nonetheless, the excessive variety of civilian casualties ensuing from drone assaults means that these weapons have been deployed in ways in which violate worldwide humanitarian legislation, specifically the ideas of distinction and precaution, HRMMU famous.
In some situations, drone operators seem to have deliberately attacked civilians or civilian objects, together with medical transport and personnel, which might quantity to battle crimes, it added.
“It’s clear that these weapons aren’t being utilized in compliance with the legal guidelines of battle,” Ms. Bell mentioned.
Name for accountability
Info verified by the mission confirmed that the variety of civilian casualties from short-range drones steadily elevated in late 2023 and early 2024, earlier than spiking in July 2024 and reaching report numbers in April 2025.
Casualties continued in Could and June, akin to throughout a strike on a minibus in Kostiantynivka, Donetsk area, on 23 June, through which the 65-year-old driver was killed.
On 22 Could, a 58-year-old girl, a neighborhood volunteer, was killed in a frontline village in Kharkiv area when a drone dropped a munition on the balcony of a two-story residential constructing, in keeping with the HRMMU.
“Every of those assaults have to be investigated,” Ms. Bell mentioned.
“These chargeable for focusing on civilians and humanitarian personnel have to be held to account.”
