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Parliamentarians from Ukraine’s worst hit cities have described scenes of desperation during a war which they said has “stolen the childhood of millions”.
Four women MPs were in the UK to call on all western companies operating in Russia to follow the boycott of others such as McDonald’s and Starbucks. They urged Imperial Tobacco and Marks & Spencer, which has 48 stores in the country, to cut ties with the country.
The politicians, who had to be given special dispensation to travel out of Ukraine to London, as MPs who leave the country without permission can be charged with treason, spoke at the House of Commons on Thursday.
Asked what they would say to the companies continuing to trade in Russia, Alona Shkrum said economic activity in Russia was funding military spending. “This is very important to put Putin in isolation economically and for him to know that he will not be getting a handshake from the world,” said the MP from the Batkivschyna party.
She said more than 100 children had been killed in the war so far.
Her fellow MP, Lesia Vasylenko, said the Russia assault was stealing “the childhood of millions of children”.
“We will see a generation of Ukrainians grow up with the burden of war already on their shoulders,” she said. “Thousands of babies are being born every day and the first thing they see and they hear is missiles and sirens. They have to spend their first hours of their lives in basements, which is not the way it is supposed to be.”
Ms Vasylenko, who has taken up arms to defend her country, said it was now clear after Russia’s early failure to take Ukraine that tactics have changed, including sexual assaults on women.
“When Putin was unable to take Ukraine and Kyiv in the three days as he envisaged that he would, he shifted his strategy to target specifically women and children,” said the mother of three. “We have reports now through Ukraine, especially in cities which were hit the hardest, of women who were raped. These women are usually the ones who are unable to get out. We are talking about senior citizens.”
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A woman cries near a building damaged by shelling in Kyiv as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. EPA -
A satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the damage from a Russian strike on Lviv's international airport. AP -
Destroyed cars hit by shelling in Kyiv. EPA -
A woman stands in her home after her building was damaged by shelling in Kyiv. EPA -
A pedestrian looks at a cloud of smoke rising after an explosion in Lviv. AP -
General view of a street behind a barricade in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa. EPA -
The UN Security Council meets on threats to international peace and security in New York. AFP -
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks with US troops at an army training range in Bulgaria. AP -
Empty strollers are seen outside the Lviv city council building during an action to highlight the number of children killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP -
Children play on the stage of the theatre of the Ukrainian House where a shelter for refugees has been installed in Przemysl, south-eastern Poland. AFP -
Smoke is seen above buildings close to the airport in Lviv, Ukraine. Lviv's mayor said the airport was not hit, but an area nearby. Getty Images -
Ukrainian firefighters try to extinguish a blaze at a warehouse after a bombing in Kyiv. AP Photo -
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presents flowers to Kateryna Vlasenko, 16 - who was injured as she fled with her family from the town of Vorzel - at a hospital in Kyiv. Reuters -
Igor, a 40 year-old Ukranian soldier, embraces his wife in front of his military basement in the centre of Odesa. AFP -
Ukrainian refugees arrive at the reception centre near Palanca Village, about 3 kilometres from the Moldova-Ukraine border. EPA -
Broken windows after parts of a Russian missile, shot down by Ukrainian air defences, hit an apartment block in Kyiv. AP -
People clear debris outside a medical centre damaged by the same Russian missile after it was intercepted. AP -
A police officer looks through the window of a damaged flat in Kyiv. One person was killed and three injured when debris from a downed rocket hit an apartment in the Ukrainian capital. AFP -
Firemen working in the rubble after extensive damage in Kyiv. AFP -
Family members and comrades of Ivan Skrypny, who was killed in a rocket attack on a military base in Yavoriv, pay their last respects at his memorial service in Lviv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A man feels the despair as his home was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv. Russian troops trying to encircle the capital have launched early morning strikes on the city for several successive days. AFP -
UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed shakes hands with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a news conference following their talks in Moscow. Reuters -
The Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama, which was destroyed by an air strike during Russia's military onslaught in Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters -
A satellite image of the theatre before the bombing, with the word 'children' written in Russian in large white letters on the pavement in front of and behind the building. Reuters -
A Ukrainian woman and her family in a taxi displaying the colours of the Ukrainian flag upon arriving in Madrid with a group of Spanish taxi drivers who drove to Poland to support the mass evacuation of refugees. Reuters -
A sanitised train arrives in Kielce, Poland, carrying children with oncological diseases who fled Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Reuters -
A man outside a damaged housing block after it was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv. AFP -
A residential building damaged by a blast wave at the scene where debris from a downed rocket hit a nearby apartment block in Kyiv. AFP -
Evacuees from Mariupol are seen upon arrival at the car park of a shopping centre on the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhzhia, which is now a registration centre for displaced people. AFP -
Legislators applaud Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, after an address via video link at the Bundestag in Berlin. Bloomberg
The pair were joined by Maria Mezentseva and Olena Khomenko. Ms Mezentseva, of the Servant of the People Party, said humanitarian aid groups such as the UNHCR and Red Cross did not have much of a presence in Ukraine, despite a mandate to operate on the ground.
“It feels really disgusting to be left on your own when we are defending international presence and we’re saying there will be a day where they are being attacked,” she said.
