Latest in Ukraine: Children in Ukraine Pay a Heavy Price for Russia’s War

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago, at least 477 children have been murdered and almost 1,000 injured by Russian attacks, according to a report published on Sunday by the prosecutor general’s office of Ukraine on the messaging app Telegram.

The Donetsk and Kharkiv oblasts, where 452 and 275 minors, respectively, were either killed or injured, reported the most casualties. The sources stated that as the current figure excludes information from areas that are now under Russian occupation or where hostilities are taking place, the casualty rate among youngsters is predicted to be higher.

The National Police of Ukraine reported over 400 children missing last month.

Additionally, more than 19,000 kids from territories that are currently occupied by Russia have been forcibly deported to Russia. Only 364 of them have so far been recovered by Ukraine, according to Children of War, a national database for that country.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian official in charge of the forcible deportations of Ukrainian children to Russia, both have arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court as of March 17.

According to the Reuters news agency, Lvova-Belova disputed the ICC’s war crime accusations earlier this month at a Moscow news conference, asserting that her panel acted on humanitarian grounds to defend the interests of children in a region where armed action was taking place.

As previously stated, the Kremlin referred to the ICC’s conduct as “outrageous and unacceptable.”

However, many Ukrainian kids who were given back to their parents and guardians have a different account to share.

We were treated like animals, Vitaly, a little boy from the Kherson region, told Reuters earlier this month. We were locked up in a different building. He claimed that his parents had told him and other kids that they were no longer wanted.

Russian troops

In its daily intelligence report on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry stated on Sunday that Russia is pursuing “Draconian initiatives” to promote discipline among its troops.

According to a tweet from the ministry, Russian commanders “have likely started” punishing soldiers who disobey orders by putting them in “Zindans,” which are improvised pits in the ground with metal grills on top.

The government claimed there had recently been “multiple” allegations from Russians claiming they were detained in Zindans for infractions such trying to break their contracts and intoxication.

When Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov was appointed to oversee the operation in January, the severe measures that had been put in place since the fall were made even more severe, the ministry added.