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Russia-Ukraine Crisis: 'Over 1.5 million children have fled their country'

UNICEF spokesperson James Elder: “Every single minute, 55 children have fled their country… That is, a Ukrainian child has become a refugee almost every single second since the start of the war (February 24.)… This refugee crisis is in terms of speed and scale, unprecedented since the Second rWold War, is showing no signs of slowing down."

ByIFP Bureau

Updated 20 Mar 2022, 8:13 am

(Photo: IFP)
(Photo: IFP)

Scores of children in Ukraine have been killed, over 1.5 million have fled the country and over 75,000 children have become refugees since the day Russia started the war on Ukraine, on February 24, a UNICEF official said.

"Since February 24, scores of children have been killed in Ukraine. Many more have been injured. And more than 1.5 million children have fled the country… on an average, every day in Ukraine, from the start of the war, more than 75,000 children have become refugees,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said at a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

He said, “Every single minute, 55 children have fled their country… That is, a Ukrainian child has become a refugee almost every single second since the start of the war (February 24.)… This refugee crisis is in terms of speed and scale, unprecedented since the Second rWold War, is showing no signs of slowing down. 

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"Like all children driven from their homes by war and conflict, Ukrainian children arriving in neighbouring countries are at significant risk of family separation, violence, sexual exploitation, and trafficking. They are in desperate need of safety, stability and child protection services, especially those who are unaccompanied or have been separated from their families, Elder said.

The safest solution to end the crisis is to end the war now, he said.

"The safest and fastest way out of this catastrophe – indeed the only way out of this catastrophe – is for this war to end, and to end now. Until then, attacks in civilian areas and on civilian infrastructure must stop,” he said.

Pointing out that the war is claiming lives... forcing people to forgo essential health services despite catastrophic needs, and children are missing school, Elder said, they must stop the war “because millions of children remain in areas of conflict in Ukraine”.

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"UNICEF continues to have a team on the ground in Ukraine and to send in essential supplies. Over the weekend, another convoy arrived in Ukraine. This time 22 trucks with 168 tons of supplies, including midwifery kits, surgical kits, obstetric kits, oxygen concentrators, cold boxes, as well as blankets and winter clothes, water, sanitation and hygiene kits, dignity kits; early childhood education kits and adolescent Kits. 

Meanwhile, mobile child protection teams are being expanded from 9 to 47 to scale-up protection and psychosocial services for children across Ukraine, Elder informed.

"Our support of course stretches across borders, to some of those 1.5 million child refugees. We are setting up more and more Blue Dots safe spaces - in partnership with humanitarian partners and local authorities - to provide critical support and protection services for children and families. We have messaging on safety and unaccompanied children from chat bots in Ukraine to Facebook; we have delivered hygiene products to refugee centres. 

"But we must be clear: despite tireless efforts from volunteer grandmothers to governments, scouts to UN agencies, so long as this war continues, the situation for Ukraine’s children will only get worse," Elder said.

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childrenukraineunicefchild refugees

IFP Bureau

IFP Bureau

IMPHAL, Manipur

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