Save the Children press release

NEWS QUOTE: FIVE CHILDREN INJURED IN ATTACK IN UKRAINE'S DONETSK REGION AS CHILDREN BEAR THE BRUNT OF ANOTHER YEAR OF WAR

8 Mar 2025 Ukraine

Save the Children responds to reports that drone and missile attacks in Donetsk region last night have killed 11 people, and injured 30, including five children.

KYIV, 8 March 2025 -- In response to the drone and missile attacks last night that reportedly killed 11 people, and injured 30, including five children in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dobropillia, Sonia Khush, Save the Children Country Director in Ukraine, said:  

“The strikes on Dobropillia in Donetsk region – where five children were reportedly among the 30 people injured – show that children in Ukraine continue to live under bombardments and attacks. While full-scale conflict in Ukraine recently entered its fourth year this February, children in the Donetsk region have suffered even longer, with the conflict there ongoing for 11 years now.  

“This war has ripped away the childhoods of children in Ukraine as they live in fear during endless air raid alerts and spend thousands of hours sheltering in corridors and freezing basements. Children continue to begin their days by being startled awake by air raid sirens and forced into shelters straight out of bed. Instead of learning and playing, children are being killed, injured, and left emotionally distressed. Children that we work with have shown symptoms of anxiety, fear, moodiness, difficulty concentrating and irritability, including nightmares, twitching and speech defects.   

“Children are bearing the brunt of this war and it is unconscionable that violence against the most vulnerable of human beings continues in Ukraine.”

For further enquiries please contact: media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409 
 

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