The United Nations has condemned a deadly wave of drone strikes across Sudan that are killing civilians, including children, and disrupting essential services as the conflict enters a brutal new phase. For families across the region, the escalation of drone warfare means deepening suffering, widespread displacement, and the systematic destruction of the infrastructure that ordinary people rely on for survival.
Rising Civilian Casualties and the Human Cost
The human toll of this technology is staggering for communities caught in the crossfire of a war that began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, reported that over 1,100 civilians had died in drone strikes between January and June 2026. These casualties accounted for roughly 80 percent of all recorded civilian deaths in that period. UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told journalists in New York that the continued deadly drone strikes are killing children and destroying essential services.
Recent days brought fresh violence to neighborhoods and marketplaces, leaving families to bury their dead amid the ruins. On a single Monday, drone strikes injured at least 19 people in a busy market in Abyei and targeted several locations in Khartoum, including an area near the airport. One civilian was reportedly killed and some flights were cancelled following the attacks. Over the preceding weekend, attacks reportedly killed at least 19 people, including 10 children, and injured others across West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Kordofan States.
The targeting of humanitarian personnel compounds the tragedy for local communities who depend on relief workers for basic care. Since the conflict began, 25 Sudanese Red Crescent volunteers have reportedly been killed while on duty. Stéphane Dujarric expressed deep sadness over the killing of a Sudanese Red Crescent volunteer who was providing first aid at a health centre in Um Darfa in Blue Nile State following a drone attack on the facilities. The targeting of those who put their own lives at risk to help others in humanitarian settings remains a grave violation of international humanitarian law.
Infrastructure Collapse and External Actors
The technological evolution of the conflict has turned civilian areas into testing grounds, with long-range weapons cutting off power and transport. The Rapid Support Forces began using limited-range drones during the first month of the war in Khartoum. The Sudanese Armed Forces followed, with the help of Ukraine, turning civilian drones into armed drones that proved effective in urban warfare. After the Sudanese army recaptured Khartoum in March 2025, the Rapid Support Forces deployed long-range systems capable of striking far from their strongholds. Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab reported that the Rapid Support Forces have six Chinese-manufactured CH-95 or FH-95 drones at Nyala Airport with a 250-kilometer range. These weapons enabled attacks on Port Sudan, the de facto capital and humanitarian hub, causing a total power outage in the city and suspending humanitarian flights.
External actors continue to fuel this destruction by supplying advanced military hardware to the warring factions. The United Arab Emirates is prolonging Sudan’s war and destabilizing the wider region by providing advanced drone technology to the Rapid Support Forces. Rosemary DiCarlo urged external actors to stop fueling the violence and drone usage, calling once again on the warring parties to return to the negotiating table during a briefing to the Security Council.
Sudan itself occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres as Africa’s third-largest country, with a population of 51.8 million people as of 2025. The nation has a long history of political turbulence, from ancient kingdoms along the Nile to the military dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir between 1989 and 2019, and the secession of South Sudan in 2011. Today, the convergence of advanced aerial weapons and institutional collapse threatens the very fabric of Sudanese society.
Hunger, Displacement, and Relief Operations
Beyond the immediate blasts, the drone war intersects with a colossal hunger emergency that puts millions of lives at immediate risk. Over 20 million people in Sudan face acute hunger, with a rising risk of famine in parts of Darfur and Greater Kordofan. Families displaced from their homes struggle to find clean water, shelter, and medical care as supply lines remain severed by ongoing hostilities.
Despite these immense challenges, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to deliver crucial assistance wherever they can reach vulnerable populations. In Central Darfur state, UN partners recently rehabilitated a water facility in Zalingei, restoring access to safe water for some 2,500 people. More than 2,000 families have received water, sanitation, and hygiene support amid the displacement crisis.
Sustaining these lifesaving operations requires immediate financial backing from the international community as local needs escalate daily. Stéphane Dujarric emphasized that Sudan’s humanitarian response plan is just over 43 percent funded, leaving relief agencies with a shortfall as they attempt to stave off widespread famine. For the millions of displaced Sudanese families, the end of drone attacks and a return to negotiations represent the only viable path away from total catastrophe.
Geographic Scope of Drone Vulnerability
The escalation of drone warfare has shifted the battlefield beyond traditional front lines, exposing civilian populations across disparate geographic regions to unprecedented risk. While initial conflicts were concentrated in Khartoum, the deployment of long-range systems by the Rapid Support Forces has extended the threat to distant strongholds and humanitarian hubs. The ability to strike from hundreds of kilometers away means that even areas previously considered safe have become testing grounds for aerial weaponry. This expansion of range allows attackers to bypass immediate defensive perimeters, targeting infrastructure in Port Sudan and other strategic locations far removed from the Rapid Support Forces’ primary operational bases.
The geographic reach of these attacks has forced a reevaluation of safety protocols throughout the nation’s diverse states. Regions such as West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Kordofan have seen direct targeting over recent weekends, killing at least 19 people including children. The vulnerability is not limited to urban centers; remote markets in Abyei and health facilities in Blue Nile State have also become targets. This widespread reach ensures that the humanitarian crisis is no longer localized but has permeated almost every state within Sudan’s vast territory of 1,886,068 square kilometres.
The convergence of advanced aerial weapons with institutional collapse threatens the entire fabric of Sudanese society regardless of location. Whether in the de facto capital or rural villages, the presence of armed drones capable of disrupting power and transport creates a pervasive sense of insecurity. The destruction of essential services in these varied locations compounds the existing hunger emergency, leaving millions without access to clean water, shelter, or medical care as supply lines are severed by hostilities spanning the country’s north-south and east-west axes.
Sources
- Sudan
- How Sudan Became a Laboratory for Drone Warfare, Thanks to Abu Dhabi
- UN condemns deadly wave of drone strikes in war-torn Sudan
Photo: news.un.org (official press image)
