The attacks took place late Thursday in the city’s Novobovarskyi district. According to media reports, at least three people were killed and another 16 were injured.
The repeated rocket attacks caused significant damage to residential buildings. They also affected rescuers who arrived on the scene.
In a statement The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, expressed her deepest condolences on Friday “to the families affected by the non-stop attacks by the armed forces of the Russian Federation.”
The humanitarian response is hampered
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, has been under constant shelling in recent weeks. UN agencies have helped evacuate people from other areas in the wider Kharkiv region that have come under attack.
Ms Brown said the escalation of hostilities in Kharkov and elsewhere in Ukraine continues to devastate the lives of families, making humanitarian response efforts even more important and difficult.
“International humanitarian law strictly prohibits attacks on civilians or civilian infrastructure,” she said.
“Living in fear of air raids at home, at work or while shopping is not normal.”
Offenses against children
Ms Brown heads the UN office in Ukraine, which issued a separate document rack on Friday condemned the serious violations of children’s rights in the aftermath of the large-scale Russian invasion in February 2022.
Severe hostilities continue to inflict enormous physical, psychological and emotional damage on children, disrupting their lives and endangering their futures.
“The latest wave of Russian attacks in the Kharkov region underlines the terrible costs of the war and the horrors facing Ukraine’s children,” Ms. Brown said.
“Many have been killed or injured, and thousands have been forced to flee their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs and the deep stress of witnessing a truly terrifying situation.”
Young lives came to an end
According to the UN Human Rights Office, more than 600 children have been killed and more than 1,420 injured since the escalation. OHCHRalthough the actual toll is likely much higher.
According to the statement, children spend countless hours in bomb shelters due to random attacks. Boys and girls in frontline communities have spent between 3,000 and 5,000 hours underground – equivalent to four to seven months – making their lives stressful and extremely difficult.
Forced displacement increases the dangers they face, including separation from their families and increased risks of human trafficking, exploitation and abuse.
© UNICEF/Olena Hrom
A four-year-old girl is sheltered at her kindergarten in the Kharkov region of Ukraine.
Education and healthcare disrupted
The war also had a serious impact on education, and many schools adopted online or underground classes. The UN office in Ukraine expressed particular concern about the situation of children in frontline areas.
Currently, nearly a million boys and girls – a quarter of all Ukrainian children attending school – are unable to attend in-person education, especially those with disabilities and special educational needs.
Children’s health is another casualty of the war. Damage to health care facilities, together with the displacement of personnel, means that access to health care services is limited.
The statement noted that displaced families and people living close to the frontlines are struggling to obtain necessary medical care, especially for pregnant women and newborns, while vaccination campaigns have been disrupted, increasing the risk of outbreaks of certain preventable diseases.
Commitment to deliver
The UN and partners in Ukraine are working to help the country’s children, the statement said.
Last year, the UN provided essential basic health care to more than 5.1 million children and mothers, and education services to more than 2.5 million students and teachers.
Ms. Brown underscored the UN’s commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine, but noted that “no amount of aid will restore what a generation of children lose as a result of the Russian invasion.”
