Russian invaders kidnap Ukrainian children and use them as human shields when moving columns of their equipment, reports the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

“Cases are recorded when the occupying forces use Ukrainian children as human shields for military equipment. According to local residents in the village of Novy Bykov (Chernihiv region), Russian soldiers took local children hostage and put them in trucks. The purpose of these actions is to insure a convoy of military equipment,” the report says..

In addition, the invaders use children as hostages - as a guarantee that the local population will not give out the coordinates of the enemy's movement to the Ukrainian defenders..

Cases of using children as cover are recorded in Sumy, Kiev, Chernihiv and Zaporozhye regions.

“Cases of inhuman treatment of children are recorded by the Ukrainian side and international institutions. Information about each of them will be transferred to the international criminal courts.. The occupiers will definitely be held accountable for every committed war crime,” the ministry stressed..

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Earlier it was reported that almost 400 children have suffered in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.. Of these, 153 children died and more than 245 were injured..

859 educational institutions damaged due to bombing and shelling. 83 of them are completely destroyed.