Porto-Franco City

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres has reported a significant increase in serious violations of children's rights in Ukraine this year due to the armed aggression of Russia, once again placing the Russian military on the «list of shame».

This information is highlighted in Guterres’s annual report «Children and Armed Conflict», which was presented at a UN Security Council meeting by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Virginia Gamba.

The largest increase in such violations has been recorded in Lebanon (545%), Mozambique (525%), Haiti (490%), and Ethiopia (235%). In Ukraine, it stands at 105%.

«I am deeply concerned about the sharp rise in serious violations against children in Ukraine, including killings and maiming of children, as well as attacks on schools and hospitals,» stated the Secretary-General in the section dedicated to Ukraine.

During the reporting period (2024-2025), the UN documented the killing of 94 and the injury of 577 children. Responsibility for these acts «is attributed to the Russian armed forces and associated groups,» the report states. Additionally, there were 559 attacks on schools and 303 on hospitals recorded.

The document confirms that many Ukrainian children taken to Russia are still missing.

«I strongly urge the Russian Federation to cooperate with the UN in returning Ukrainian children and reuniting them with their families and/or guardians,» Guterres emphasized.

In light of this, the Russian Armed Forces have once again been officially included in the list of state structures that systematically violate children's rights (the so-called «list of shame»). Other countries and regimes included in this list are the DRC, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and several others.

The Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, Andriy Melnyk, has called on the Security Council to impose sanctions against states and individuals responsible for serious violations of children's rights during armed conflicts.