Some 152 children killed, 146 injured in Donbas since war start

According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, from the outbreak of hostilities on April 14, 2014 to April 30, 2021, 152 children have been killed and 146 children injured, the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine reported on the occasion of the day of remembrance of children who died as a result of armed aggression of the Russian Federation.

“According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, during the entire period of the conflict, from April 14, 2014 to April 30, 2021, some 152 children died (of which 102 were boys and 50 girls) and 146 children were injured (of which 120 were boys and 26 girls.) Unfortunately, these painful statistics do not fully reflect the scale of the losses suffered by children during the prolonged armed conflict,” the Office of the Ombudsman said in a Facebook post.

The Ombudsman notes that the impossibility of ensuring state control over the observance of human rights in the temporarily occupied territory makes it impossible to assess the scale of the problems faced by children on the other side of the contact line.

At the same time, according to the operational information of the National Social Service of Ukraine, as of May 5, 2021, the number of children who received the status of a child affected by military actions and armed conflicts is 66,491, of whom 95 received this status due to injury, concussion, or mutilation.

“However, for such children, at the level of laws and regulations, no guarantees are still provided, except for free hot meals in state and communal educational institutions. The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights has repeatedly emphasized the need to develop normative legal acts that will provide for a child a possibility to receive certain benefits, payments, allowance,” the message says.

The Ombudsman calls on the government, the Rada, state authorities and local self-government bodies, the public to make every effort to implement a policy for the protection and safety of Ukrainian children from the armed conflict.