Short-range aerial drones were the most common cause of civilian deaths in Ukraine in January, a UN monitoring mission said, cited by "Reuters".
The UN mission reported that at least 139 civilians were killed and 738 injured in January 2025, with 27% of the deaths and 30% of the injuries caused by short-range drones.
In total, the UN estimates that nearly 12,500 civilians have been killed in the war, including 650 children - although it has repeatedly said the number is underestimated, as it only includes deaths that its teams were able to verify.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which were seen primarily as auxiliary tools at the start of the war, have become one of the most important battlefield weapons in the conflict, with both Ukraine and Russia producing over a million each by 2024.
"Our data shows a clear and disturbing pattern of short-range drones being used in ways that put civilians at serious risk," the head of the UN monitoring mission, Daniel Bell, said in a press release.
"On-board cameras should allow operators to distinguish between civilian and military targets with a higher degree of certainty, yet civilians continue to be killed at alarming rates."
Russia denies deliberately attacking civilians, although many thousands have been killed since it launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.