The United Nations has accused Russia and its allies of killing 216 children in 2022 during its war of aggression against Ukraine, an internal report seen by the Deutsche Presse-Agentur in New York on Thursday revealed.
The report also stated that 80 children were killed by Ukrainian forces.
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the killing as sad and appalling.
The Russian army was included on a UN list of organisations that committed serious offences against children during the armed conflicts.
According to the UN list, a total of 477 children were killed in Ukraine last year, with 136 attributed to Russian forces and allies, and 80 to Ukrainian troops.
For the remaining victims, neither of the two warring parties can be blamed with certainty.
The children were mostly killed by air strikes, the report stated.
Such attacks are carried out by Russian forces on Ukrainian towns and villages.
The UN stressed that there was a large number of unreported cases because of the strict guidelines for verifying such cases.
“I am particularly shocked by the high number of attacks on schools, hospitals, and protected personnel, and by the high number of children killed and maimed, attributed to Russian forces and affiliated armed groups,” Guterres said.
He also expressed concern about the actions of Ukrainian forces.
The UN documented a total of 92 cases of children last year, which were used as human shields in Ukraine.
According to the report, the Russians were responsible for all but one of these cases.
Of a total of 751 attacks on schools and hospitals, 480 were carried out by the Russian army and its allies and 212 attacks were attributed to Ukrainian armed forces, while the remaining cases could not be attributed.
AFP
