**Child Casualties in Ukraine Surpass 2023 Total**
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported a devastating increase in child casualties in Ukraine during the first nine months of 2024. The total number of children killed or injured this year exceeds the total for all of last year.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children have been abducted from occupied territories and relocated to other Russian-controlled areas or Russia itself. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said that 2024 has been one of the worst years on record for children in conflict zones globally.
**Record Number of Grave Violations Against Children**
UNICEF reported a record number of grave violations against 22,500 children, with 32,900 such incidents confirmed since 2023. This is the highest number of such violations since the UN began monitoring them nearly 20 years ago.
Russell warned that children in conflict zones face heightened risks of being out of school, malnourished, or forcibly displaced. Millions of children have lost access to education due to damaged, destroyed, or repurposed schools. Globally, over 52 million children in conflict-affected regions are deprived of education.
**Forced Adoption and Russification of Ukrainian Children**
A Yale School of Public Health study found that Russia has conducted a “systematic, intentional, and widespread” program of forced adoption and Russification of deported Ukrainian children. Ukrainian children have been sent to at least 21 regions across Russia, subjected to pro-Russian re-education, and placed in Russian families.
The war has claimed the lives of approximately 600 Ukrainian children, with UNICEF predicting further increases in child victims in 2025 if the conflict continues unabated.
Read More @ kyivindependent.com