Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, 688 children have died in Ukraine, and another 2,392 children have been injured. At least 23 cases of sexual violence against minors have also been recorded. This was announced by Dmytro Lubinets, the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights, during an interactive dialogue with the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, UNN reports.
Since 2014, Russia has been killing, maiming, and deporting Ukrainian children. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion alone, 688 children have died, 2,392 have been injured, and at least 23 cases of sexual violence have been recorded. 4,505 educational institutions and 2,551 medical facilities have been damaged or destroyed.
Lubinets also drew attention to the problem of forced deportation of Ukrainian children. According to him, hundreds of places where Russia takes minors are known. There, children are subjected to ideological re-education and militarization.
He stressed that these facts are direct evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Commissioner called on the international community for concrete actions – to facilitate the return of deported children, demand information from Russia about their whereabouts, and bring the perpetrators to justice.
According to Lubinets, Russia's actions should be recognized as genocide of the Ukrainian people, which will be evidence of the international community's readiness to call these crimes by their proper names.