Russia killed 209 and injured 1,146 civilians throughout April, making it the deadliest month and the one with the best variety of injured since September 2024, the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) reported on Might 8.
At the very least 19 kids had been killed and 78 injured in April, the best verified month-to-month variety of little one casualties since June 2022.
"One of many essential causes for the sharp rise in civilian casualties was the intensified use of ballistic missiles in main cities throughout the nation," Danielle Bell, Head of HRMMU stated, in an announcement accompanying the report.
The information comes because the Trump administration continues to try to carry Kyiv and Moscow to the negotiating desk. But, the progress has been restricted, and Donald Trump's staff has pressured Kyiv to make concessions to Russia, with out making use of seen stress on Moscow to halt its aggression.
The excessive variety of civilian casualties in April displays a broader pattern of elevated hurt to civilians in 2025 in comparison with 2024. Between January and April 2025, 664 civilians had been killed and three,425 injured, a 59% enhance in comparison with the identical interval in 2024, the report learn.
In April, 97% of civilian casualties had been recorded in Ukraine-controlled territory. Nearly half of all circumstances had been attributable to Russian missile assaults or shelling. Kryvyi Rih, Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, and Kharkiv suffered essentially the most harm over the previous month.
Assaults utilizing short-range drones close to the contact line accounted for 23% of civilian casualties throughout the month. In the meantime, in early Might, the pattern of concentrating on massive Ukrainian cities with loitering munitions additionally continued, in keeping with the report.
"The progressive rise within the variety of civilian casualties each month this 12 months is intently tied to using long-range missiles and drones on city areas," Bell stated
"This has been compounded by continued drone assaults in frontline areas, driving a gradual and alarming rise in civilian casualties, together with kids," she added.
The Kyiv IndependentYuliia Taradiuk