504 Ukrainian children killed and over 1124 injured during full-scale Russian war against Ukraine

The Office of the Prosecutor General reports.

"As of the morning of September 22, 2023, according to official information from juvenile prosecutors, 504 children were killed and more than 1124 were injured of varying severity," the Joint State Political Directorate said.

Most children were affected in Donetsk region - 487, Kharkiv - 300, Kyiv - 129, Kherson - 124, Zaporizhzhia - 99, Mykolaiv - 97, Dnipro - 96, Chernihiv - 71, Luhansk - 67.

These figures are not final. Work is underway to establish them in the areas of hostilities, on the temporarily occupied and liberated territories.

Ukrainian children are often victims of Russian aggression

Hundreds of children in Ukraine have been maimed or killed by the Russian invaders during the full-scale war. Children are victims of rocket, artillery, and air strikes against Ukraine. Yesterday, a 9-year-old girl was injured in Kyiv during a massive Russian missile strike. At the end of March, Ukraine decided to forcibly evacuate children from frontline cities to ensure their safety. For example, in August, over 50 children were forced to evacuate five settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region. 

Deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia and Belarus

In the context of a full-scale invasion, Russia is deporting Ukrainian children en masse from the occupied territories of Ukraine. They are taken to the occupied Crimea, Russia or Belarus, allegedly for rehabilitation or to rest in camps.

On March 17, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova. They are suspected of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children.

On April 27, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized the deportation of residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia as genocide and welcomed the issuance of arrest warrants for Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova by the International Criminal Court.

A special report presented by the OSCE on May 4 stated that Russia's forced deportation of Ukrainian children could be recognized as a crime against humanity.

On July 18, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on UN countries to join forces and force Russia to return to Ukrainian parents their children taken against their will to Russia during the war in Ukraine.

On August 1, the US State Department called on Russia to stop deporting Ukrainian children from the occupied territories and to return them home.

On August 11, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has confirmed that forcibly deported Ukrainian children are held in his country. He added that Russia and Belarus would continue to take children from Ukraine.