MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. Ukraine's use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to kill Russian civilians has become common practice in 2024, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik said at a briefing.

"At the beginning of the conflict there were very few victims of Kiev's various UAVs. Since the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, the use of drones to strike civilians has become widespread," he said. "It is difficult to give an exact figure of how many people have been injured since the conflict began. I can say that just since January 1 of this year, 723 people have suffered injuries and 124 people have died due to Ukraine's use of all kinds of unmanned systems," Miroshnik said.

The diplomat stressed that these figures may be higher, as the data he mentioned are only those verified by several Russian federal agencies in charge of this issue. "Unfortunately, this trend is increasing," he continued. "July saw almost 200 assassination attempts on civilians. In August, this figure may increase if the Ukrainian militants' lawlessness is not halted," he concluded.