Speaking to reporters from a basement in Kherson, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative in Ukraine Munir Mammadzade said that the frontline city remains “under constant fire,” with daily attacks destroying homes and critical infrastructure, as well as the services that children and families rely on. “I have been constantly hearing artillery shelling,” he said, speaking of yet another “massive, coordinated attack” which reportedly impacted civilian and energy infrastructure overnight. The city’s children’s hospital was attacked eight times on Tuesday morning, Mr. Mammadzade added.
Childhood underground
With few places offering any sanctuary in Kherson, daily life is “a matter of survival” for children and families in the frontline area, the UNICEF representative said. The region is “almost fully covered in anti-drone nets” and childhood has “literally moved underground,” he stressed. Out of some 60,000 children who lived in Kherson prior to the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, only about 5,000 are left, and have to “learn, play and sleep in basements just to stay safe.”
Source: The UN
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