UN adds Russia’s armed forces to global list of offenders for war crimes – Reuters

The United Nations (UN) added Russia's armed forces to a global list of offenders for killing children in Ukraine, according to a report of the UN Security Council that Reuters gained access to. On 22 June, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called out Russia for killing 136 children in Ukraine in 2022, Reuters reported. According to Reuters, the UN verified that Russian armed forces and affiliated groups maimed 518 children and carried out 480 attacks on schools and hospitals in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. Russian armed forces also used 91 children as human shields. According to the UN report, the Ukrainian army is also responsible for killing 80 children, Reuters claimed.

The UN Secretary-General's annual report to the 15-member Security Council on children and armed conflict covers the killing, maiming, sexual abuse, abduction or recruitment of children, denial of aid access, and targeting schools and hospitals. The report was compiled by Virginia Gamba, the UN Secretary-General's special representative for children and armed conflict, according to Reuters.

Last month, Virginia Gamba visited Ukraine and Russia, where she met with Russia's envoy for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, whom the International Criminal Court wants to arrest on war crimes charges related to the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.

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