In May 2024, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that around 2,000 young people in Ukraine had been killed or injured amid an ongoing and escalating war. This makes it clear that the number of child deaths is likely to be higher. The report comes shortly after Russia intensified its attacks in the Kharkiv region, in which several young people were killed. The Kharkiv region has experienced several waves of attacks in recent weeks, resulting in more civilian deaths and injuries. There has been extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure across Ukraine, more than 700 civilian casualties and 47 attacks on power. Only in April was damage to infrastructure recorded.
As the war continues, the humanitarian scene in Ukraine continues to deteriorate. In January 2024, Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reported that the scale of humanitarian needs in Ukraine remained enormous: more than 14. 6 million people (about 40% of the Ukrainian population). They want some form of humanitarian assistance. Another four million people, in addition to almost a million young people, remain internally displaced. More than 6. 3 million people continue to live as refugees around the world. According to Save the Children, 2. 9 million young people in Ukraine are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The two (plus) years of war have taken a devastating toll on the people of Ukraine, with losses estimated at over 10,000 civilians killed since Russia introduced its large-scale armed attack on Ukraine (according to information released in November). 2023). However, the real numbers are most likely much higher. Furthermore, with the escalation of hostilities in the Kharkiv region, those numbers will continue to rise.
Regina De Dominicis, from UNICEF’s regional office for Europe and Central Asia and its regional director, said that “at least 1,993 young people in Ukraine have been killed or injured since the escalation of the war there more than two years ago, an average of two children suffering every day. » The ongoing war is having a profound effect on the well-being of young people in Ukraine. As UNICEF reports, the attacks in Ukraine have affected the intellectual aptitude and well-being of young people. Some teens report difficulty sleeping, and one in five experience intrusive minds and flashbacks.
Additionally, almost a portion of children enrolled in school in Ukraine do not benefit from in-person education, and around one million children nationally do not have in-person learning opportunities. due to insecurity. In 2023 alone, UNICEF is estimated to have reached 1. 3 million young people with formal and non-formal learning opportunities and 2. 5 million young people and caregivers with intellectual competency and psychosocial support. As the war progresses, those desires will only increase.
The effects of the war on Ukraine’s youth drew attention after the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March 2023 issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova for their crimes against youth. According to the ICC statement, Vladimir Putin “is allegedly guilty of the war crime of illegal deportation of population (youth) and illegal transfer of population (youth) from the occupied spaces of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (according to Article 8(2) )( a) (vii) and 8 (2) (b) (viii) of the Rome Statute). It further adds that “there are moderate grounds for Mr. Putin to have individual responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (Article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for not exercising sufficiently good control over the civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts. acts. acts, or permitted the commission of him, and which were under his authority and effective control of him, by means of distinctive feature of the duty of impressive (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute). Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, faced similar accusations. In February 2024, the UN Security Council held its first closed consultation with young Ukrainians kidnapped during the Russian invasion. However, thousands of young Ukrainians remain detained in Russia.
The situation of young people in Ukraine, affected by the Russian war, demands an urgent response. As UNICEF points out, young Ukrainians are in dire need of safety, stability, access to education, child coverage facilities and psychosocial support. More than anything, young Ukrainians want peace.