Russia-Ukraine crisis: more than 40 children among 2,000 killed in war, says Ukraine

Civilian deaths have surpassed 2,000 and with a severe cold snap approaching, more will suffer, former deputy prime minister says

Children wait in a bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP

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More than 40 children have been killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine as civilian deaths climb past 2,000, a leading Kyiv politician has said.

At least 75 children have been injured, with “some of them now dying”, said Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Ukraine’s former deputy prime minister.

There were also reports of children trapped in the rubble of bombed homes.

“They are being found under the debris and then they are dying from dehydration,” she said.

With temperatures expected to drop to minus 10°C in the coming days, misery is set to increase, with 900 cities, towns and villages now without power.

“We are being eliminated and erased by the Russian Federation from the of the world as a nation,” said Ms Klympush-Tsintsadze, speaking on International Women’s Day.

“Women, men, kids, elderly, everybody are becoming a target of the Russian occupiers.”

Minutes before making an appearance via Zoom at the Rusi think tank webinar on Tuesday, she said there were reports that three teachers had been killed on their way to care for children at a kindergarten.

“A critical number of atrocities are happening across the country,” she said.

The former children’s speech therapist reported that 202 schools had been hit, 35 hospitals destroyed or damaged and 1,600 residential buildings collapsed since Russia invaded nearly two weeks ago.

Food is reportedly becoming scarce among Russian troops, who had only been given three days of rations and are now demanding bread from Ukrainians, said Ms Klympush-Tsintsadze.

“Russians are knocking on our doors and asking for some bread. We are not going to feed the occupiers and so if they get just cold and freeze to death, that’s their fate.”

There is also a high level of concern for the elderly who are trapped in their homes without heat or hot water and dwindling food supplies.

And concern is rising that international aid agencies will not be able to gain access to the country quickly enough to stave off a humanitarian disaster, she added.

Ms Klympush-Tsintsadze called for greater Nato involvement to halt the Russian advance.

“If we do not altogether stop [Russian President Vladimir] Putin right now in Ukraine, unfortunately, there are grounds to believe that this is not his end goal and the war will spill over to other nations,” she said.

“We want to protect ourselves but we are also shielding Europe.”

While Mr Putin had referred to the Kyiv government as “Nazis”, it was the Russians who acted brutally, she said.

“They're calling us fascists and at the same time, they are behaving exactly like neo-Nazis.”

She said that Russian troops killed in combat had been abandoned on the battlefield.

“They are not even picking up their corpse, they just leave them behind. They are not interested in identifying them and bringing them back in coffins to their mothers.”

During her time as deputy prime minister from 2016 and 2019, Ms Klympush-Tsintsadze said she had worked to bring gender equality to the armed forces.

“I'm so proud that I've done so much to ensure that Ukrainian women have access to military positions and military ranks.”

Hundreds of women have taken up arms on the front lines.