Commissioner calls on NATO to “stop Russian terrorism.”
QUICK FACTS:
- “As of 11:00, March 10, 2022, since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, 71 children have been killed and more than 100 children have been injured,” Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova posted on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.
- Denisova went on to say seven private one-story houses have been destroyed, five people were killed, including three children (a five-year-old girl and two children born in 2021), as a result of an airstrike on the town of Malyn.
- A 16-year-old boy was also killed in the shelling of a market in the village of Zhukovskoho, Kharkiv region, according to Ukrinform.
- “Over the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, the atrocities of Russian militants, the violation of all Geneva conventions, Ukraine pays an exorbitant price – the lives of its children, the future of our people. I insist, NATO countries, help stop Russian terrorism – close the sky over Ukraine,” the human rights commissioner said.
UKRAINIAN NEWS REPORTS MORE FATALITIES:
- As a result of another artillery shelling of the village of Slobozhanske, Izium district, in the Kharkiv region, a Russian shell hit a private house during the night.
- Four people died under the rubble, but two women and two children, a five-year-old girl managed to survive.
- In addition, in the town of Irpin, in the Kyiv region, a 10-year-old girl was severely wounded and is currently in hospital in serious condition, according to Ukrinform.
BACKGROUND:
- Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov recently said there may be a need for direct talks between Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, adding that the Russian president is ready to take part in such negotiations, RT News reports.
- “We’ve confirmed today that President Putin isn’t rejecting the idea of a meeting with President Zelensky,” Lavrov said after “difficult” talks with Ukrainian FM Dmytro Kuleba in Turkey’s Antalya on Thursday.
- He said he reminded his Ukrainian counterpart that Putin and Russia are “always ready to meet if we can achieve some added value and solve the problem.” However, Moscow sees no use in “meeting simply for the sake of meeting,” the minister pointed out.
- Russia claims it attacked its neighbor in late February, following a seven-year standoff over Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk.
- Russia has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join NATO, while Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and denies claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.
