More than half of the children in Ukraine had to leave their homes fleeing insecurity and fighting generated by the invasion launched by Russia a month ago, the UN agency for children (UNICEF) reported on Thursday.
“A month of war in Ukraine caused the displacement of 4.3 million children, more than half of the country’s child population, estimated at 7.5 million,” detailed the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) in a statement.
Of the total number of displaced children, 1.8 million crossed the border to take refuge in neighboring countries and 2.5 million remain inside Ukraine.
“The war caused one of the largest and fastest displacements of children since World War II,” Unicef Director-General Catherine Russell said, the AFP news agency reported.
“It is a sad reality that risks having lasting consequences for generations to come. Children’s safety, well-being and access to essential services are threatened by unremitting and horrific violence,” she added.
The UN said on Wednesday that 81 children are among the 977 civilians whose death was verified in Ukraine as a result of the invasion Russian released on February 24.
Another 108 were injured, he added, although he clarified that the true figures are surely much higher.
The General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine yesterday numbered 121 children killed by the Russian invasion and 167 wounded.
