Kyiv, Ukraine
Reuters
At least 437 Ukrainian children have been killed as a result of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office said on Saturday.
More than 837 children have also been injured in a tally officials said was “not final” because they were still verifying information from zones of active fighting, liberated areas and territory still occupied by Russian forces.
A view shows an apartment building destroyed by a Russian military strike, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Dnipro, Ukraine, on 17th November. PICTURE: Reuters/Mykola Synelnykov
The eastern Donetsk region was the most affected, with 423 children killed or injured, the prosecutor’s office said.
The United Nations has said at least 16,295 civilians have been killed since Russia’s 24th February invasion, which Kyiv and Western leaders have denounced as an act of unprovoked aggression. Moscow denies targeting civilians.
Kherson evacuations to start soon
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Saturday that Ukraine will soon begin evacuating people who want to leave the recently-liberated southern city of Kherson and the surrounding areas, citing damage done by Russian forces.
The Deputy Prime Minister said some people had expressed a wish to move away from both Kherson and the area around Mykolaiv, around 65 kilometres to the north-west.
“This is possible in the next few days,” she told a televised news conference in Mykolaiv when asked when the evacuations would begin, saying the government had already made the necessary preparations.
Among those who wanted to leave were the elderly and those who had been affected by Russian shelling, she added.
Kyiv says Russian troops destroyed Kherson’s critical infrastructure before leaving earlier this month.
“This is only a voluntary evacuation. Currently, we are not talking about forced evacuation,” Vereshchuk said.
“But even in the case of voluntary evacuation, the state bears responsibility for transportation. People must be taken to the place where they will spend the winter,” she said.
The government had several options, one of which was to use Mykolaiv as a transit point before sending people further west into safer areas, she added.
People wait for the arrival of the first train from Kyiv after Russia’s military retreat from Kherson, at the main train station in Kherson, Ukraine, on 19th November. PICTURE: Reuters/Murad Sezer
In August, Vereshchuk said Ukraine planned to expand the number of front line districts where civilian evacuations will be mandatory, as those areas could be occupied and face central heating problems this winter.
Reassurances on energy
In other news, Ukraine’s energy ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian electricity supplies are under control despite a series of Russian attacks on power-generating infrastructure and there is no need to panic.
Separately, the head of DTEK, the country’s largest private energy company, said there was no need for people to leave Ukraine.
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Russian missile strikes have crippled almost half of Ukraine’s energy system and Kyiv authorities said on Friday that a complete shutdown of the capital’s power grid was possible.
“Denying the panicky statements spread by social networks and online media, we assure you that the situation with the energy supply is difficult, but under control,” the energy ministry said in a statement.
Authorities across the country have scheduled blackouts to help the repair effort, it said, urging families to cut their energy consumption by at least 25 per cent.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia last month of trying to destabilise the country by forcing millions to flee westwards, creating a refugee crisis for the European Union.
DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko said the armed forces, the energy industry and individual Ukrainians were working miracles to maintain supplies.
“That is why there is no need to leave Ukraine today,” a company statement cited him as saying.
Zelenskiy said on Saturday that the supply problems were worst in and around Kyiv as well as in six other regions.
“We are working throughout the country to stabilize the situation,” he said in a video address.
