Kyiv Attacks Kill Four Children, UN Condemns Russia Strikes

Firefighters work among the rubble of a residential building in Kyiv destroyed in a missile strike on 28 August.

Russia’s latest deadly attacks on Ukrainian cities overnight, including the capital Kyiv, left four children dead and dozens injured, UN aid agencies reported on Thursday.

The youngest victim of the bombing raid was two-and-a-half years old, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which released video footage showing smoke billowing from a Kyiv apartment block with a massive hole in its roof.

Leading condemnation of the attacks, the UN Secretary-General said that targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure violated international humanitarian law. He called the attacks “unacceptable and must end immediately,” followed by a ceasefire resulting in a “just, comprehensive, and sustainable peace in Ukraine,” according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.

Speaking to UN News after visiting the shattered building and its residents, UNICEF Representative Munir Mammadzade insisted that nowhere in Ukraine is safe today. The air-raid alert in Kyiv lasted almost 12 hours, he noted.

The senior UN official also condemned the “continuous attacks” reportedly involving ballistic missiles and drones by Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“I’m just back from one of the sites that were impacted, severely… and still, the search and rescue operation is continuing,” he said, adding that clothes, toys, and shoes lay strewn across the pavement of the impacted residential area in the capital’s Darnytskyi suburb. “Across the city, there were four kids confirmed killed and more than 10 injured; most likely these numbers will rise,” he added.

Media reports indicated further damage to civilian infrastructure, including Ukraine’s railways. Russian attacks have also continued closer to the front line, targeting key energy infrastructure ahead of winter, Mr. Mammadzade warned.

In Kyiv and in frontline areas, plummeting temperatures are “the biggest challenge,” the UNICEF senior official said, appealing to donors and partners to support the UN agency’s winterization plan by contributing more to its Ukraine humanitarian fund, which faces a 40% funding shortfall.

People within 10 kilometres (around six miles) of the front line “require immediate support,” the UNICEF official said, so that “families and children can survive and, most importantly, have their livelihoods protected.”

The development comes as the country’s children prepare to return to school against a backdrop of ever-present air-raid sirens that are “becoming kind of a norm,” even if the impact of the war on many youngsters’ mental health is severe and widespread.

“We know that even if war ends today, [its effects] will last for generations to come,” Mr. Mammadzade explained, pointing to sudden mood swings linked to post-traumatic stress and feelings of hopelessness among children he has met in frontline areas, including Donetsk, Sumy, and Kharkiv.

According to UNICEF, a kindergarten was also reportedly damaged in the latest attacks.

“What they basically fear the most is for their lives, and unfortunately, they often tell us that they don't have dreams or hope,” the UN official continued. “What they need most is peace — and for it to happen as soon as possible — so that they can return to normalcy.”

In his renewed call for a ceasefire, the Secretary-General insisted that it should fully uphold Ukraine's “sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, in line with the UN Charter, international law, and relevant UN resolutions.”