The United Nations has reported that two-thirds of the children killed or injured in Sudan during 2026 were victims of drone strikes.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that 410 children were killed or injured in Sudan between January and September this year.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said that two-thirds of these children, approximately 270, were affected by drone attacks, noting that these weapons “are bringing the war into places that were previously safe.”
Elder added that people in Sudan “talk about three things: safety, education and water, and armed drones are taking all three away from them.”
The war, which has been raging since April 2023 between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces, has killed more than 200,000 people, according to estimates by humanitarian workers, and triggered the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
Both sides in the conflict are increasingly relying on long-range strikes using drones capable of flying hundreds of kilometres.
