As of 12 June, more than 795 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine, the country’s government has said in its regular update.
It said at least 287 children had died, and 508 injured in the conflict, adding the caveat that confirmation of incidents was difficult in areas of active hostilities and the occupied territories.
The report said most of those affected were in Donetsk (2017 children), Kharkiv (149), and Kyiv (116).
The latest from Ukraine
Welcome to our rolling coverage of the war in Ukraine.
- Bitter fighting is raging in Sievierodonetsk but Ukraine remains in control of an industrial area and chemical plant in the eastern city where hundreds of civilians are sheltering from incessant Russian shelling, the region’s governor says. Ukraine has said about 800 people were hiding in several bomb shelters underneath the Azot plant, including about 200 employees and 600 residents of Sievierodonetsk.
- Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukraine’s military was gradually liberating territory further west in the Kherson region and had some successes in Zaporizhzhia, too.
- The EU executive will this week make a recommendation on whether Ukraine should be given candidate status, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen has said during a surprise visit to Kyiv on Saturday. Such a recommendation would be a step on a long road to full membership. Speaking alongside Von der Leyen, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that the EU’s decision on Ukraine would “determine” the future of Europe.
- The US president, Joe Biden, has said that Volodymyr Zelenskiy “didn’t want to hear” warnings of the Russian invasion. Speaking at a fundraising reception in Los Angeles, Biden said “there was no doubt” Vladimir Putin had been planning to “go in”. “I knew we had data to sustain [Putin] was going to go in, off the border. There was no doubt … and Zelenskiy didn’t want to hear it.”
- The family of a British man sentenced to death for fighting Russian forces have said they are “devastated” and called for “urgent cooperation” to secure his release.
- Russia’s military has set up another field hospital due to heavy casualties, Kyiv Independent reports. It is in the village of Shebekino in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, according to the general staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
- A United Nations commission arrived in Ukraine on Saturday to investigate war crimes. The deputy speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, Olena Kondratyuk, said the commission’s goal was to record war crimes and human rights violations.
- Approximately 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia’s invasion of the country in February, according to a military adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy. He added that in terms of daily Ukrainian casualties, around “200 to 300 die, no less”.
- The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is planning a visit to Kyiv alongside the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi. The leaders want to meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy prior to the G7 summit.
source: theguardian.com