Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has criticized the United Nations Children's Fund for omitting that child deaths stem from Russian aggression.
Sybiha wrote on social media platform X on August 9 that the statement by the UN agency created a false impression of equivalence between the aggressor and the victim. He stated that all child deaths in the conflict are a direct result of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
The foreign minister added that the UNICEF statement lacked basic fact-checking. He noted that the organization failed to mention that casualties in Krasnodar, Russia, resulted from a fallen drone intercepted by Russian air defenses.
Sybiha also said UNICEF failed to verify figures in Ukraine. He pointed out that seven children from a single family died in Dnipropetrovsk region rather than three children as indicated by the organization.
Russian strike on Radushne
The minister referred to a Russian strike on the night of July 30 against the village of Radushne in Kryvyi Rih district, Dnipropetrovsk region. A Russian missile hit the house of a large family, killing all 10 people inside.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cited preliminary data indicating that the weapon used in the attack was a North Korean ballistic missile. The family had 10 children in total, of whom only three survived.
A surviving daughter wrote on social media that only she and her two brothers survived. On August 3, 2026, more than 200 residents gathered in Radushne to bid farewell to five identified family members.
The entire village turned out for the service. Villagers described the large family as religious and spoke warmly of both the parents and the children.
Funeral for the Voronov family
Pallbearers carried five coffins on their shoulders to the cemetery during the ceremony. The community held a church funeral service for the five identified victims.
The victims identified and buried on August 3 were parents Artem Voronov and Olena Voronova, along with three of their children, Mark, Azarii Ilai, and Emiliia.
Crosses featuring photographs of Artem Voronov and his daughter Emiliia were carried during the funeral procession through the village.
Mourners placed toys, flowers, and candles on the coffins of the deceased children and grandson.
Toys and candles also surrounded photographs of the family members at the site where their destroyed home once stood.
DNA identification of remaining victims
The fate of four other children in the home, Zakharii, Dominika, Viorika, and Federika, as well as 1.5-year-old grandson Artem, remains unconfirmed. Their bodies were so severely mutilated by the impact that DNA testing is required to identify them.
Officials expect to hold a second farewell ceremony once the ongoing DNA examinations restore the identities of the remaining five victims.
Russian forces regularly attack Ukrainian towns and civilian infrastructure in all regions using attack drones, missiles, guided aerial bombs, and multiple launch rocket systems. Russian leadership continues to deny that its military conducts targeted strikes on civilian infrastructure in Ukrainian cities and villages.
Call for UNICEF action
Sybiha noted that Russian forces killed another innocent Ukrainian child, a three-year-old boy in Kyiv region, on the day before his post. He stressed that these actions constitute Russian war crimes.
The Ukrainian foreign minister urged UNICEF to condemn these terrible crimes and to call on Russia to stop killing innocent Ukrainian children.
UNICEF had issued its statement on August 4, citing examples of child fatalities and injuries in Russia, specifically in Belgorod region and on a beach in Gelendzhik in Krasnodar Krai, as well as in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions.
The UN agency called on all parties to uphold obligations under international humanitarian law to protect children and civilian infrastructure, emphasizing that attacks killing and injuring children must stop. The international organization did not state who launched the full-scale war, which is currently in its fifth year.
