UN: April marks deadliest month for Ukrainians since September 2024

This is stated in the report of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, published on May 8.

97% of all victims are civilians who were in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government. Nearly half of them were affected by missile strikes and shelling carried out by Russian armed forces.

“One of the main reasons for such a sharp increase in the number of victims was the massive use of ballistic missiles against large cities across the country,” the UN noted.

The report mentions Russian attacks on Kryvyi Rih, Sumy, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, and Kharkiv.

For example, on April 4, a ballistic missile strike on Kryvyi Rih killed 21 people and injured dozens more. 

On April 13, Palm Sunday, Sumy came under fire: two missiles killed more than thirty people. 

On April 18, a missile hit Kharkiv—one person was killed and more than 100 were injured. On April 24, Kyiv suffered another attack using missiles and kamikaze drones—at least 11 people were killed and 81 more were injured.

A similar terror tactic continues in May: new strikes are being recorded in Kharkiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, and Kyiv—again with civilian casualties. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine notes that the attacks often occurred at times and places when many families were on the streets, resulting in an increased number of child deaths. In April, at least 19 children were killed and 78 injured—this is the highest level since June 2022.

A significant share of civilian losses—23%—was caused by short-range drone strikes in frontline areas. Although most of these attacks occurred in the Kherson region, one of the most tragic was on April 23 in the city of Marhanets, Dnipropetrovsk region, where a drone struck a bus carrying mining company workers. As a result of the attack, 10 people were killed.