Children Injured in Slavyansk as Ukrainian Army Shells Hospital
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - At least seven children were hurt as the Ukrainian military shelled the city of Slavyansk, a stronghold of the pro-Russian activists, in the country’s restive South East on Friday night, Pavel Astakhov, Russia’s ombudsman for children’s rights, said.
“According to the public health department of the Donetsk regional administration, seven children were injured by bullets and shrapnel during the bombardment by the Ukrainian army,” Astakhov wrote on Twitter.
Self-defense forces in Slavyansk say the Ukrainian military shelled the town’s residential area overnight, with one of the shells hitting a children’s hospital.
A children’s clinic was also damaged by artillery fire, ITAR-TASS reported.
On Wednesday, a school in the Artema residential district of Slavyansk was bombarded and one of the shells blasted through the roof of the assembly hall.
Fatalities were only avoided because teachers and pupils managed to find shelter in the basement of the school building.
In his interview with the Rossiya 24 channel, Astakhov said that an online action called ‘Save Donbass Children’ (#savedonbasschildren) has been initiated via social networks.
“I want to appeal to the leaders of all states around the globe to urge [Ukraine’s president-elect], Petro Poroshenko, to save the children of Donbass,” the ombudsman stressed.
Last week, Astakhov wrote to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) to attract attention to violations of humanitarian law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the Ukrainian regime.
He also urged international organizations to put pressure on Kiev in order to provide a humanitarian corridor for the people to be evacuated from the warzone in the South East of the country.
