UNICEF regional director for Europe and Central Asia, Regina De Dominicis, on Saturday condemned Russia’s rocket attack on Kryvyi Rih in the Ukrainian Dnipro region last week, noting that the organization is working to support affected families while coordinating emergency assistance.

The attack, with a missile striking a residential neighborhood, resulted in the death of at least 18 people, including nine children, with another 61 injured. De Dominicis said of the attack:

Every child killed is a future stolen. The brutal use of explosive weapons in populated areas and attacks on civilian facilities and infrastructure, which [disproportionately] harm children, must end. Children in Ukraine need peace. They need protection. They need a sense of hope for the future, not more grief and pain.

UN Human Rights Coordinator Matthias Schmale issued a similar statement on Friday, saying that the present attack followed a “deeply disturbing” pattern of Russian military attacks on densely populated areas throughout the country that continue to kill and injure civilians. Schmale further emphasized that international humanitarian law is intended to protect civilians from being targeted by military forces.

Article 48 of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions provides that all parties must always “distinguish” between civilians and military personnel and combatants and must only direct their operations against military forces or combatants, but never against civilian populations.

Numerous NGOs and government officials have also condemned the attack, including Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans and Vice President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas.

According to UNICEF, more than 2,500 children have been killed or injured since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. In March, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that the occupation of parts of Ukraine by the Russian Federation forces have caused large-scale human rights violations against children.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude to those who issued public statements, stressing his distrust for efforts to negotiate a potential ceasefire with Russia. Zelensky has appealed to the US and Europe to exert pressure on the Russian government to withdraw from Ukraine, and has advocated for military-backed security guarantees.