Half a million children have been forced to flee their homes in Ukraine by Russia’s invasion and devastating aerial assault, the U.N. children’s agency (UNICEF) said Friday, fueling concern over the impact of the violence on the next generation.
“This is unprecedented in scale and speed and if the violence, the explosive munitions don’t stop, many, many more will leave their country in a very short space of time, and we fear many more will be killed,” UNICEF spokesman James Elder told a press briefing at the U.N.’s Palais des Nations in Geneva.
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UNICEF said its first convoy of trucks would arrive in Ukraine on Saturday, bringing emergency medical supplies, water, sanitation and hygiene kits, medicine, and surgical equipment. The agency has already supplied oxygen cylinders to a hospital in Kyiv and tents to refugees in border locations, but “as the conflict continues, demand will continue to outstrip supply.”
“Children spent another freezing and terrifying night in bunkers, their homes under siege. Millions more risk being caught up in the violence as the fighting intensifies. Children have been killed. More are at grave risk of dying or being maimed when weapons and explosive munitions are used in populated areas,” Elder said. “Children must have peace.”
MSN
