Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict — September 2025

Summary

• In September 2025, at least 214 civilians were killed and 916 injured, similar to August 2025.

• Most death and injuries (69 per cent) occurred near the frontline, with particularly high casualties reported in Donetsk and Kherson regions. Short-range drones, primarily those with First-Person-View capacity, continued as the leading cause of casualties near the frontline (54 killed; 272 injured). These attacks accounted for 29 per cent of all civilian casualties.

• Long-range strikes with missiles and loitering munitions launched by Russian armed forces accounted for 30 per cent of all civilian casualties (36 killed; 306 injured). These attacks continued to pose a serious threat to civilians, including in urban centres such as Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipro.

• As in the previous month, the vast majority of civilian casualties (97 per cent1) occurred in areas controlled by the Government of Ukraine. Civilian casualties were recorded across 16 regions of Ukraine and the city of Kyiv.

• September 2025 also saw a 15 per cent increase in attacks affecting energy infrastructure in Ukraine compared with August 2025, with 31 attacks documented. In the Chernihiv region alone, at least 12 such attacks resulted in temporary power outages in several districts and the subsequent introduction of scheduled power cuts in October.

• Total civilian casualties from January to September 2025 remain 31 per cent higher than the same period last year.