Omar Abdi, deputy executive director of UNICEF, has said the UN verified nearly 100 deaths of children in the Russia Ukraine war. Mr Abdi added that they “believe the actual figures to be considerably higher.”
Although the evacuations from Mariupol and other frontline areas represented “small moments of relief”, the situation continues to be dangerous for children. “Children and parents tell us of their ‘living hell’ where they were forced to go hungry, drink from muddy puddles, and shelter from constant shelling and bombardments, dodging bombs, bullets, and landmines as they fled,” he said.
Meanwhile, Russia on 24th February launched its invasion of Ukraine. And, according to the latest updates, Ukraine claimed it had damaged and set on fire a Russian navy logistics ship in the Black Sea. The Vsevolod Bobrov was near Snake Island, said Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration in southern Ukraine. Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said “very difficult negotiations” were ongoing to evacuate 38 seriously wounded fighters from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, in exchange for Russian prisoners of war. However, The UN’s human rights council has passed a resolution to investigate alleged abuses by Russian troops in parts of Ukraine formerly under their control, with a view to holding those responsible to account.