Russia-Ukraine War: Zelensky Claims Russian Troops Abduct More Than 200,000 Ukrainian Children Since Start of Invasion

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia has abducted almost 200,000 children since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine.

"It is still being confirmed how many children Russian soldiers abducted and took out of Ukraine," Zelenskyy stated at the Ukraine Accountability Conference in The Hague, Netherlands. According to a statement issued by Ukraine's Presidential Office, "the preliminary figure is horrific - around two hundred thousand youngsters."

Russia Commits Human Rights Violations

In addition to slamming Russia, he claimed that the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies had only registered 34,039 offenses related to Russian aggression. Notably, the conference coincided with Ukraine's efforts to coordinate investigations into alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces.

As of the morning of July 14, almost 349 Ukrainian children had died as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war. The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine stated on Telegram that the Russian Federation's full-scale military strike has affected over a thousand children in Ukraine. Approximately 652 Ukrainian children have been injured as a result of the fighting.

A Russian missile strike on Vinnytsia's city center on July 14 killed eight persons, including a toddler. The Ukrainian president labeled the Russian military assault in Vinnytsia an "open act of terrorism" against people. In a Telegram post, Zelenskyy condemned Russian soldiers for striking residents in regions "with no military (targets)."

According to a top Ukrainian source, Russian soldiers have abducted the majority of the 7,200 missing Ukrainian servicemen. Oleh Kotenko, Ukraine's Commissioner on Persons Gone Missing Under Special Circumstances, per an interview with Suspilne TV station, those missing included members of the military, security agencies, national guards, and border guards, Republic World reported.

Ukrainian Children Are Most Affected in Russia-Ukraine War

In consonance with Ukrainian officials, Russian missiles targeted a city in central Ukraine on Thursday, killing 21 people and injuring over 90 more. The strike, according to the country's president, was an "open act of terrorism" against people in areas with little military importance.

Three missiles struck an office building and damaged adjoining residential structures in Vinnytsia, some 167 miles southwest of Kyiv, according to Ukraine's national police. The missile hit sparked a fire that engulfed 50 automobiles in a neighboring parking lot.

Serhiy Borzov, the governor of the Vinnytsia region, claimed Ukrainian air defense systems shot down four more missiles over the area. Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi told news media in Vinnytsya that the strike killed 21 people and injured at least 91 others, 50 of them were critical. Three children, he added, were among the deceased.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated that the strike was planned to target people. The strike occurred during a meeting in The Hague of government officials from over 40 nations to discuss coordinating efforts to investigate and punish alleged war crimes in Ukraine, according to CBS News.

In the latest attack to target civilian targets far from the front lines, a barrage of missiles hit a shopping mall, a dance studio, and a wedding hall in central Ukraine on Thursday, killing at least 23 people and sparking a frantic hunt for dozens more missing in the ruins.

Seventy-one people were injured, including three children, when three missiles hit the middle of Vinnytsia, a generally peaceful regional capital, leaving a terrifying sight of burning wreckage in their wake.

According to Zelensky's office, the strike was carried out with cruise missiles launched from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea. Three children were among those killed in the strike on Vinnytsia, roughly 240 miles inland from the coast, according to the report.

Grooms used to carry their wives from the wedding hall, a well-known local icon, while a building next door used to attract students to a picture studio that produced school albums. The missiles struck a military officers' club and a hotel. Bystanders stared in awe as firefighters doused the smoking carcasses of crashed automobiles with water hours later. According to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, 29 people are still missing, and a search is ongoing among the rubble in an area of town where people conduct errands.

Russia has stopped its offensive in eastern Ukraine to reassemble damaged military troops, but Moscow has served up daily reminders that its stockpile of long-range weaponry can inflict death and destruction on civilian and military targets alike far from the battlefield.

The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the Vinnytsia strike, while consistently denying targeting civilians. Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, condemned the incident, which happened as the Dutch government sponsored a meeting in The Hague to hold Russia accountable for human rights crimes in Ukraine, as per New York Times.