Matthias Schmale condemned the large-scale Russian assault on Kyiv, Dnipro and Kharkiv, which marked the third time they have been struck in as many weeks.

“Instead of enjoying the start of the school summer break, children and their families spent the night in underground shelters, woken up by air raid sirens, explosions and uncertainty,” he said.

‘Senseless devastation’

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed sadness over reports that a three-year-old boy was killed in Dnipro and that 10 children were injured in the attacks across Ukraine.

“The brutal, senseless devastation of young lives must end,” the agency tweeted.

In another post, UNICEF shared the testimony of Valeriia, a 13-year-old girl from Kyiv, who spent the night in a basement alongside her mother.

“I thought I wasn’t going to survive,” she said. “I completely broke down and was in tears when the explosions became so powerful that they blew open the shelter door.”

End all attacks

Mr. Schmale noted that “the war continues to take a devastating toll on civilians and their mental health, as they have no respite, and fear and anxiety build up amid the anticipation of the next attacks across the country.”

He stressed the need to uphold international law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including homes and hospitals.

“The Russian Federation’s inflammatory rhetoric and escalation of attacks should stop, paving the way for a just peace,” he said.