UN records dramatic increase in crimes against Ukrainian children

According to Ukrinform, the annual report Children and Armed Conflict by UN Secretary-General António Guterres was presented at a meeting of the UN Security Council by his Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba.

The report highlighted that the largest increases in grave violations against children were recorded in Lebanon (545%), Mozambique (525%), Haiti (490%), and Ethiopia (235%). In Ukraine, the increase was noted at 105%.

The UN Secretary-General expressed deep concern over the significant rise in such violations in Ukraine, including the killing and maiming of children, as well as attacks on schools and hospitals.

During the reporting period of 2024–2025, the UN documented the killing of 94 children and the injury of 577 in Ukraine. According to the report, responsibility for these violations rests with the Russian armed forces and associated groups. Additionally, the UN recorded 559 attacks on schools and 303 on hospitals.

The report also confirmed that many Ukrainian children who had been taken to Russia remained unaccounted for. UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged Russia to cooperate with the United Nations in facilitating the return of these children and reuniting them with their families or legal guardians.

As a result of these documented violations, the Russian Armed Forces have once again been officially included in the UN’s list of state entities that systematically violate children's rights — the so-called “list of shame.” Other countries and regimes on the list include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and several others.

• Earlier, Yevhenia Pavlova, President of the All-Ukrainian Foundation for the Protection of Children's Rights, said that compared to the data for 2023, in 2024 the number of children affected by Russian aggression since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine has halved.