The UN accused the Russian (and Ukrainian) army of killing children during the war

Author:
Anhelina Sheremet
Date:

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres accused Russia of killing 136 children in Ukraine in 2022 and added Russia to the global list of criminals.

This is stated in the report of the UN Security Council, which was reviewed by Reuters.

The United Nations also confirmed that Russian armed forces maimed 518 children and carried out 480 attacks on schools and hospitals. According to the report, the Russian armed forces also used 91 children as human shields.

Also, in its report, the UN accuses the Armed Forces of Ukraine of killing 80 children, wounding 175, and 212 attacks on schools and hospitals.

Guterres said in the report that he was "particularly shocked" by the large number of children killed and injured, as well as attacks by Russian armed forces on schools and hospitals. He also said that he was particularly concerned about "the large number of such crimes against children by the Ukrainian armed forces."

Guterresʼ annual report on children was compiled by his Special Representative for Children, Virginia Gamba. In May, she visited Ukraine and Russia, where she met, in particular, with the Russian Childrenʼs Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, who was accused by the International Criminal Court of illegally deporting children from Ukraine.

As of June 22, 490 children were killed and more than 1,500 were injured in Ukraine due to the war.

  • On April 27, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized the deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children to the territory of Russia as genocide. PACE called on the International Criminal Court to consider the possibility of criminal prosecution for this crime.
  • Russia deported 19,499 children from Ukraine and created more than 70 camps where they are forcibly held. Since part of the territory of Ukraine is under occupation and the authorities do not have access to it, it may actually be about several hundred thousand kidnapped children.
  • On March 17, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Putin and Russian Childrenʼs Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. They are suspected of illegally deporting children from the occupied regions of Ukraine to Russia.