Nearly 100 children were killed in Ukraine in April amid the Russian invasion of the country, according to UNICEF.
“In just this past month, the UN verified that nearly 100 children were killed, and we believe the actual figures to be considerably higher,” UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Omar Abdi told the UN Security Council Thursday.
“Children in Ukraine need an end to this war,” Abdi urged. “Their futures hang in the balance.”
Abdi highlighted the deaths of children as well as hundreds who have been injured and millions who have been forced out of their home country into safer nations throughout Europe.
“Schools continue to be attacked and used for military purposes and water and sanitation infrastructure impacted,” Abdi said. “The war in Ukraine, like all wars, is a child protection and child rights crisis.”
Abdi specifically referenced last week’s bombing of a school in Luhansk, a city in eastern Ukraine, by the Russian army.
The school held 90 people sheltering from the Russian army when it was attacked.
“As of last week, at least 15 of 89 – one in six – UNICEF-supported schools in eastern Ukraine had been damaged or destroyed since the start of the war,” Abdi said. “Hundreds of schools across the country are reported to have been hit by heavy artillery, airstrikes and other explosive weapons in populated areas, whilst other schools are being used as information centres, shelters, supply hubs, or for military purposes – with long term impact on children’s return to education.”
He added: “Children are resilient but they shouldn’t have to be. They have already paid an unconscionably high price in this war. We must do everything possible to help ensure it doesn’t also cost them their futures.”