At Least 103 Children Killed In Ukraine In The 21 Days Of Russian Invasion
As of Wednesday, which was the 21st day since Russia began invading Ukraine, 103 children were killed in the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
“Last night, Russian troops continued shelling Ukrainian territory, our peaceful cities, our citizens. As of this morning, 103 children have been killed," he said in a video.
Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov also said that 103 children have been killed since the start of the conflict and more than a hundred hospitals damaged or destroyed.
Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Irina Venediktova, however, stated that the children's death toll in Ukraine is likely to be far higher.
Many more have become refugees in the three weeks of war that began on February 24.
Out of the more than three million people who have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded the country, nearly half of them minors, with a child becoming a refugee every second, the UN said.
On average, every day in Ukraine from the start of the war, more than 75,000 children have become refugees.
Poland has welcomed the highest number of Ukrainians fleeing the war. Out of the three million, nearly 1.8 million have taken refuge in Poland.
Rzeszow, the largest city in southeastern Poland, roughly 100 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, has become a humanitarian aid hub for the region.?
"What we have been doing is bringing more people into the country, bringing more assistance into the country, working with partners to make sure that we can work effectively, to do what we can to help,'' said Matthew Saltmarsh, UNHCR spokesman.
Efforts are also being stepped up to assist the refugees, about half of them children, who have escaped over the past weeks to Poland and other countries bordering Ukraine.
Refugees now arriving in neighboring countries are "more vulnerable, in a more traumatic state'' than those who came in the early days of the war, Saltmarsh said.
Kateryna Horiachko, who escaped from the area around the capital, Kyiv, said people there were "devastated.''
Like all?children driven from their homes?by war and conflict, Ukrainian children arriving in neighbouring countries are at significant risk of family separation, violence, sexual exploitation, and trafficking.?
In Poland, authorities said that they have seen indications that human traffickers may be targeting refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.
Traffickers have long focussed on vulnerable people in eastern Europe, especially women and minors who are mainly trafficked for sexual exploitation, according to a UN study.
For more on news,?sports?and current affairs from around the world, please visit?Indiatimes News.
