Russia’s ballistic missiles make April deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since final fall, UN experiences

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 Could 8.

A minimum of 19 youngsters had been killed and 78 injured in April, the best verified month-to-month variety of baby casualties since June 2022.

"One of many principal 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 mentioned, in an announcement accompanying the report.

The information comes because the Trump administration continues to attempt to carry Kyiv and Moscow to the negotiating desk. But, the progress has been restricted, and Donald Trump's crew 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% improve in comparison with the identical interval in 2024, the report learn.

In April, 97% of civilian casualties had been recorded in Ukraine-controlled territory. Virtually half of all instances had been brought on by Russian missile assaults or shelling. Kryvyi Rih, Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, and Kharkiv suffered probably the most injury over the previous month.

Assaults utilizing short-range drones close to the contact line accounted for 23% of civilian casualties through the month. In the meantime, in early Could, the pattern of concentrating on massive Ukrainian cities with loitering munitions additionally continued, in accordance with the report.

"The progressive rise within the variety of civilian casualties each month this yr is carefully tied to the usage of long-range missiles and drones on city areas," Bell mentioned

"This has been compounded by continued drone assaults in frontline areas, driving a gentle and alarming rise in civilian casualties, together with youngsters," she added.

‘She fed all the birds, dogs, and cats’ — 64-year-old animal rescue volunteer and son killed in Russian attack on KyivSerhii Mandryk was on a call with acquaintances in Canada in the early hours of May 7. An air raid alert had sounded in Kyiv a few hours earlier but he decided to stay at home and go ahead with it rather than head for a shelter. He assured everyoneThe Kyiv IndependentYuliia Taradiuk