Russia has been accused by Ukraine of using children as “human shields” while regrouping its forces, as the first horrifying witness accounts from the newly liberated town of Bucha, near Kyiv, emerge.
It was further alleged that children had been taken as hostages in a number of conflict hot spots around the country to ensure locals would not give the coordinates of the enemy’s movements to the Ukrainian forces.[regions],” said Lyudmila Denisova, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman. “There have been cases of brutal behaviour against minors been recorded, documented by a Ukrainian and international institutions, and we’d like to emphasise that information in each and every case will be given to the national criminal courts and the occupiers will be brought to justice for each and every military and war crime they commit.”
• Pope Francis has said he is considering visiting the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and for the first time implicitly criticised the Russian presidentover the invasion of Ukraine. “We had thought invasions of other countries, savage street fighting and atomic threats were grim memories of a distant past,” he said.