About 5.2 million children need humanitarian aid because of the war in Ukraine, according to UNICEF

UNICEF says the war "has destroyed the lives of millions of children" and calls for an "urgent" ceasefire

MADRID, 1 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Around 5.2 million Ukrainian children need humanitarian aid due to the impact of the war in the country, triggered a hundred days ago, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which has highlighted that almost two out of three children in the country have been displaced by the fighting.

UNICEF has indicated that three million children in Ukraine and more than 2.2 million children in refugee-hosting countries need help because of the conflict, which has also caused two children to die and three to be injured every day, mainly due to attacks with explosive weapons against populated areas.

Likewise, at least 256 health facilities and one in six 'safe schools' supported by UNICEF in the east of the country, as well as hundreds of educational centers in the rest of the territory, have suffered damage due to the war, which has caused conditions for children in the east and south are "increasingly desperate".

"June 1 is the International Day for the Protection of Children in Ukraine and throughout the region," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Instead of marking the occasion, we solemnly approach the 100th day of a war that has shattered the lives of millions of children. Without an urgent ceasefire and negotiated peace, children will continue to suffer and the consequences of war will affect all vulnerable children around the world," he added.

Viacheslav, 18, has told the agency that his mother died from the impact of two mortar shells near his home in the Donetsk region (east). "She died at my hands," he has said, before adding that one of the projectiles fell "a few steps" from where they were.

"When I opened my eyes I saw my mother lying on her side. Her last words were 'I'm fine'," said Viacheslav, who has been left with two younger sisters and brothers. "When I walked into the house they understood everything. They understood everything. Nicole asked me if there was any chance that she was still alive. She did everything possible," he added.

UNICEF has highlighted that the children managed to move to a safe place in the western part of Ukraine. "I want them to have the future that they are so motivated for. I know I will do everything to achieve it," said Viacheslav.

Anastasia, 24, had to flee the city of Berdyansk with her partner, Igor, 34, and their two children, ages one and three. "We don't tell our children that there is a war. Our children don't know. We tell them that we are on a trip to the mountains or that we are going to visit relatives, but all the way one of them was shouting: 'I don't want to, I don't want to. I want to go to the mountains,'" he said.

Anastasia and her partner arrived at the home of a relative in the east of the country after five days of traveling through conflict zones. "It was a relief when we arrived, but then we started dealing with problems at home," she said.

"The room is cold and we need our children to be warm. There is no hot water and there is no place to wash up, so we have a big basin in which we and our children bathe. The only bathroom is outside," has indicated.

"I am very proud of my children. They endured the trip very well. We were very worried, we did not expect it to take so long. Only God knows what we have been through. It was very uncomfortable, but they did very well," Anastasia highlighted.

Nine-year-old Artem, who now lives in a basement in Kharkiv (east), explained that the place "is safer" because "it is dangerous outside because a missile could hit them and there would be nowhere to hide."

"For example, if you stay at home, glass can fall from a window. If you sit near the glass, it can hurt you a lot," he argued, before adding that in the basement "he does his homework" given the impossibility of going outside for the danger.

"At first I thought that everything would last two or three days, but after being stuck here for a week I realized that it would be a longer time. We have been here for about two and a half months, said Artem, who lives with his parents and her sisters.

The boy has stressed that "war offends him". "I want to go home now, it is not interesting to be trapped here. There is hope, which is that the war ends soon, everything is fine, there is peace and we can play with friends and see them at school," he pointed out.

In this sense, UNICEF has emphasized that the war has caused an "acute child protection crisis", which includes that children fleeing violence face a "significant" risk of family separation, violence, abuse, exploitation sex and human trafficking. Furthermore, most of them have been exposed to deeply traumatic events and need safety, stability, child protection services and psychosocial support.

The agency has also warned that the war and the conditions of displacement are undermining livelihoods, leaving families without sufficient income to meet their basic needs, which is why it has reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire and access full humanitarian to give help to people who need it.

UNICEF has stressed that the organization and its partners have delivered medical and health supplies to almost 2.1 million people in war-affected areas, while providing psychosocial support to more than 610,000 children and caregivers and delivering materials of learning to nearly 290,000 children. In addition, almost 300,000 vulnerable families have been enrolled in the joint humanitarian cash assistance program of UNICEF and the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine.

The agency has appealed for 624.2 million US dollars (about 579 million euros) to finance its humanitarian response inside Ukraine, and an appeal for another 324.7 million US dollars (about 300 million euros ) for its response in refugee-hosting countries.