Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict — April 2025

Summary
• With at least 209 civilians killed and 1,146 injured, the number of civilian casualties in April was 23 per cent higher than in March 2025, and 84 per cent higher than in April 2024. April was also the deadliest month for civilians since September 2024. The vast majority of civilian casualties (97 per cent) occurred in territory controlled by Ukraine.

• At least 19 children were killed and 78 injured, more than the combined total of children killed over the previous four months. This is the highest verified monthly number of child casualties since June 2022.

• Almost half of the civilian casualties were due to missile and loitering munitions attacks. In many cases, powerful explosive weapons were used in urban areas, including in Kryvyi Rih, Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, and Kharkiv. In some of these attacks Russian armed forces deployed with greater intensity missiles with fragmentation warheads that detonated above ground, scattering fragments across large open areas, killing and injuring many civilians at once.

• Short-range drone attacks continued to kill and injure civilians near the frontline, accounting for 23 percent of civilian casualties in April. While the majority of these incidents were recorded in the Kherson region, an attack with a drone on a bus in Marhanets (Dnipropetrovsk region) on 23 April significantly contributed to the high casualty number.

• In April, Russian armed forces conducted at least six attacks on power generation, transmission, and distribution facilities in Kherson region, resulting in temporary power outages and suspension of public electric transport services.