UN Secretary-General António Guterres has once again included the Russian army in the list of structures (the so-called list of shame) responsible for serious violations of children's rights during the armed aggression against Ukraine.
This is stated in the annual UN report Children and Armed Conflict, which was presented at a meeting of the Security Council by the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba.
UN report on Russian crimes against children in Ukraine
According to the UN, in 2024-2025 the number of gross violations of children's rights in Ukraine increased by 105% compared to the previous period.
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These included the killing of 94 children and the injury of 577, as well as numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Responsibility for this lies with the Russian army, which carried out 559 attacks on schools and 303 on medical facilities.
“I am deeply concerned about the sharp increase in grave violations against children in Ukraine, in particular the killing and maiming of children, as well as attacks on schools and hospitals,” the Secretary General emphasized in the report.
He specifically addressed the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, many of whom have still not been found.
Guterres called on the Russian Federation to cooperate with the UN to return Ukrainian children and reunite them with their families or guardians.
Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the UN Andriy Melnyk, commenting on the report, called for Russia to cease participating in the Organization's peacekeeping missions and proposed introducing automatic sanctions against countries that systematically violate children's rights during armed conflicts.
