Lives of over 220,000 children in danger in eastern Ukraine, warns UNICEF

Hundreds of thousands of children in eastern Ukraine are at risk due to landmines and unexploded ordnance that litter the region, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned.

One child, on average, has been injured or killed as a result of the conflict, every week this year along eastern Ukraine's contact line.

The contact line is a 500-kilometre strip of land dividing Government and non-government controlled areas, where fighting is most severe.

The vast majority of children have fallen victim to landmines, explosive remnants of war and unexploded ordnance.

Many more have been left with lifelong disabilities.

Giovanna Barberis, the head of UNICEF programmes in the country, said that it is "unacceptable that places where children could safely play less than four years ago are now riddled with deadly explosives".

She called on all parties to the conflict to immediately end the use of deadly weapons and to allow mine clearance activities and recovery efforts.

UN Radio/GBCONLINE
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