Russia-Ukraine war: Ukraine claims Russian forces using children as human shields

Russian troops are not only taking Ukrainian children hostage but also using them as human shields during tactical repositioning from the Kyiv area, Ukraine's defence ministry spokesperson Col. Oleksandr Motuzyanyk alleged. In a news briefing on Friday, the top Ukrainian commander said that the Russian ‘occupiers’ are using children in order to prevent locals from revealing the coordinates of their movements. 

"The enemies have been using Ukrainian children as a living shield when moving their convoys, their vehicles, according to reports by local civilians," Ukraine's defence ministry spokesperson said.

“Occupiers use those children as hostages as a guarantee that local civilians will not provide the enemy's coordinates to Ukrainian defenders," he added.

Apart from Kyiv, Ukraine’s defence ministry spokesperson claimed that cases of Russian forces using children as human shields have been reported in a range of provinces across the war-torn nation. Motuzyanyk said Russian troops are regrouping and repositioning their efforts to focus on eastern Ukraine’s Donbass region. He said, on Friday, that Russia’s troops have “partially” withdrawn from areas around Kyiv. 

Motuzyanyk’s allegations against Russian forces came after Ukraine’s foreign affairs ministry spokesperson, on Thursday, also accused the troops of looting homes during the retreat from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Taking to Twitter, the foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said, “As Russian troops retreat from the Kyiv region after having sustained immense losses, they are looting houses of ordinary people”.

“Electronics, clothes, shoes, cosmetics. This is not an army. This is a disgrace. We will never forget and we will never forgive,” he said. 

Zelenskyy accuses retreating Russian forces of planting mines 

As Ukraine continues to accuse Russian forces of war crimes, the president of the war-torn nation, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Friday, warned his citizens that retreating Kremlin forces had been triggering a 'complete disaster' outside the capital city, Kyiv, by leaving mines across 'the whole territory'. 

(Image: AP)