Russia alongside ISIS and Al-Qaeda in UN report over actions against Ukrainian children
Photo: Andrii Melnyk, Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the UN (Getty Images)
For the fourth consecutive year, Russia has been included on the UN list of states and groups implicated in grave violations of children’s rights during armed conflicts. Thus, the aggressor finds itself on the same list as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Hamas, says Andrii Melnyk, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, at a regular meeting of the UN Security Council.
Melnyk states that Russia thus belongs to the "exclusive club of murderers of children and perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence."
Therefore, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative calls for Russia to be excluded from participating in the Organization’s peacekeeping operations.
"Whether you feel comfortable sitting at the same table with a Member State whose armed forces are responsible for verified widespread and systematic war crimes against children, as well as crimes of conflict-related sexual violence? I do not. It makes me shudder with disgust," the diplomat says.
Melnyk also cites the latest report by the UN Secretary-General, according to which the number of Ukrainian children killed and wounded as a result of Russian military actions has risen by 78%.
Furthermore, the number of attacks on schools and hospitals has nearly doubled, and incidents of obstruction of humanitarian aid have increased more than eightfold.
According to the UN, last year alone, the Russian army and affiliated forces committed 1,899 confirmed gross violations of children’s rights in Ukraine. As a result, the UN Secretary-General has once again included Russian forces on the so-called list of shame.
On June 4, Ukraine marked an important date—the Day of Remembrance for Children Who Were Killed as a Result of the Russian Federation’s Armed Aggression.
At the most recent UN Security Council meeting, it was revealed that May 2026 was the deadliest month in terms of the number of deaths and injuries over the past four years.
