Russian troops have killed 135 children and wounded 184 more since invading Ukraine a month ago, officials say.
Soldiers have bombed nurseries and families trying to escape during ceasefires.
They have also shot children and shelled teenagers playing football, according to multiple reports.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has called on NATO to provide tanks and planes to prevent more youngsters being killed.
‘This morning phosphorus bombs were used, phosphorus Russian bombs,’ he told the alliance in an address on Thursday.
‘Adults were killed again and children were killed again. I just want you to know that the alliance can still prevent the deaths of Ukrainians from Russian strikes, from Russian occupation, by providing us with all the weapons we need.’
More than 230 schools and 155 nurseries have been damaged or destroyed since Russia launched its attack, according to Ukraine’s national news agency.
Children have been killed in the highest numbers around Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Chernihiv, Mykolayiv, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr, Kherson, and Sumy, the office of Ukraine’s general prosecutor said.
On Thursday, three boys were reportedly injured by a landmine in the village of Obilne, Melitopol district.
The children, aged 13, 14, and 15, were taken to hospital where one is said to be in a critical condition.
Earlier today, Ukrainian authorities said around 300 people were killed in a Russian air strike on a theatre in the besieged city of Mariupol.
They were taking cover inside when it was bombed on March 16.
The Russian word for ‘children’ was written in huge white letters on the ground outside in a bid to prevent bombings.
It could be the war’s deadliest attack on civilians to date.
The UN has confirmed at least 1,081 civilians have died and 1,707 have been injured so far, but said the true toll is likely to be far higher.
More than half of Ukraine’s children have been displaced by the war, according to UNICEF.
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