New Delhi: At least 2,406 children have been killed or injured since the conflict escalated nearly 1,000 days ago, that is, 16 every week. These figures include 659 children killed and 1,747 injured, an average of 16 children each week, a UNICEF release stated.
The ongoing conflict has created unbearable hardship for Ukrainian children, who are facing relentless fighting, displacement, and severe shortages of essential resources. In the Donbas region, children have endured over a decade of conflict, while families across the country brace for a third winter under harsh conditions as attacks intensify. Just last week, a strike on a residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih claimed the lives of a mother and her three children, the youngest just 2 months old, the UNICEF release added.
There have been increased civilian casualties and infrastructure damage in Ukraine with attacks disrupting essential services, including water, heating, and electricity. UNICEF reports that attacks on energy infrastructure across the country destroyed nine gigawatts (GW) of electricity generation capacity between 22 March and 31 August, which is equivalent to half of what Ukraine needs during the winter months.
“Children have been killed in their beds, in hospitals and playgrounds, leaving families devastated by the loss of young lives or life-altering injuries,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Millions of children are living in constant fear, many spending an equivalent of up to six hours a day sheltering in basements under air raid sirens,” Russell added. “Without continued and increased support for children, the psychological wounds of this war will echo through generations.”
Since August, more than 170,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in eastern Ukraine, joining the nearly 3.6 million already displaced within the country and over 6.75 million who have sought refuge outside the country. In Europe, nearly 90% of refugees from Ukraine are women and children, UNICEF noted.