Ukraine war creating a child refugee almost every second – UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Russia’s war in Ukraine is creating a child refugee almost every second.

The total number of people who have now fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on 24 February passed the three million mark.

James Elder, spokesperson for the UN Children’s Fund said some 1.5 million children have now joined the exodus from Ukraine, at a rate of just under one per second, since the Russian invasion.

“Every day, over the past 20 days, in Ukraine more than 70,000 children have become refugees. That’s every minute, 55 children fleeing the country.”

Highlighting that nine in 10 of those fleeing unrelenting violence in Ukraine are women and children, Elder warned that youngsters are prey to traffickers, as they arrive in unfamiliar new surroundings.

“To give a sense of the border that I used to visit – the main border, Medyka, Poland to Ukraine – it is scores of people standing around buses and minivans calling out names of capital cities – or at least it was a week ago – people getting onto those.”

“The vast, vast majority of course are people with wonderful intentions and great generosity, but there is no doubt given what we understand of trafficking in Europe, that that remains a very, very grave issue.”

The development follows a warning from the UN Secretary-General António Guterres who on Monday said that Russia’s military offensive against civilians was “reaching terrifying proportions”.

While the UN is delivering lifesaving aid across the country where they have access, Elder reported “indiscriminate attacks time and again on critical infrastructure, particularly water has been targeted.

“Anecdotally from those colleagues there, we know of families who are undoing all heaters to take water coolant out as a last resort, as something to drink.”

Meanwhile, top UN political affairs official Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council on Monday the war in Ukraine is the most severe test the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has faced since its creation in 1975.

DiCarlo cited unrelenting shelling and bombardment of numerous cities in Ukraine, with civilians killed daily, as well as credible reports that Russian forces are using cluster munitions – including in populated areas.

Zbigniew Rau, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Poland and the current Chairman-in-Office of OSCE said Russian forces are targeting civilian targets in an effort to break the will of the population, striking schools and hospitals with internationally banned weapons.

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