Over 1 mn children leave Ukraine since start of invasion -UNICEF

RUSSIA,UKRAINE: More than 1 million children have fled Ukraine to neighbouring countries in the less than two weeks since Russia started its invasion of Ukraine, the head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday.

At least 37 children had been killed and 50 injured, Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.

Russell said that she was “horrified” by the reported attack on a children’s hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, where officials said a Russian air strike buried patients under rubble despite an agreed ceasefire.

More than 2 million people have fled Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion on Feb. 24. Moscow calls its action a “special military operation” to disarm its neighbor and dislodge leaders it calls “neo-Nazis.”

Most of those who fled are women and children, as able-bodied men have been ordered by the Kyiv government to stay home to fight.

Meanwhile, a Russian airstrike devastated a maternity hospital Wednesday in the besieged port city of Mariupol amid growing warnings from the West that Moscow’s invasion is about to take a more brutal and indiscriminate turn. Ukrainian officials said the attack wounded at least 17 people.

The ground shook more than a mile away when the Mariupol complex was hit by a series of blasts that blew out windows and ripped away much of the front of one building. Police and soldiers rushed to the scene to evacuate victims, carrying out a heavily pregnant and bleeding woman on a stretcher as light snow drifted down on burning and mangled cars and trees shattered by the blast.

Meanwhile, the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine increased by more than 140,000 in 24 hours, according to United Nations figures issued on Wednesday, with more than 2.15 million now having fled since Russia invaded on February 24.

UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency recorded 2,155,271 refugees on its dedicated website — 143,959 more than the previous count on Tuesday. – INDIAN EXPRESS, THE HINDUSTAN TIMES