More than 150 children have been killed and 245 children injured since the Russian military invasion of Ukraine starting on February 24, as per Ukrainian government officials. Talking to the local media, a press representative of the prosecutor general of Ukraine said, “about 400 children have suffered in Ukraine since the beginning of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation. Of these, 153 were killed and more than 245 were injured,”.
Given the area-wise death toll, the official said, 73 children died in the Kyiv region while roughly 60 children died in the Donetsk region which is in southeastern Ukraine and 46 children died in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine. Local residents and war journalists point out that the death toll may rise significantly in the coming days. Elders have also died in large numbers during the conflict.
The prosecutor general of Ukraine told the local media that the department is working overtime to get all the data of the affected children and bring in notice to the world about the brutality committed by Russian forces against Ukrainian citizens particularly children and the elderly. Local media had also reported that it is difficult to find the whereabouts of many people in the war zone and in the territories occupied by Russian troops like the city of Mariupol, Chernihiv and parts of Kyiv.
Amid the conflict, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who is on a visit to India said that some progress had been made with Ukraine during talks and stressed the need for continuous dialogue between the two parties to resolve the conflict.