Ukrainian authorities have found a cell in recaptured territory of Kherson where Russian forces detained and mistreated children.
"We have documented that the children were not provided with water, were given water every other day. They were practically not given food," Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament’s commissioner for human rights, said.
Russian forces used psychological pressure on the children and told them that their parents had abandoned them and would not return, he said.
At least 10 torture chambers have been found by officials in Kherson.
Elsewhere in the war, Volodymyr Zelensky said that there is no calm on the frontline as the conflict’s heaviest battle rages in Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
Russia’s tactic in its war against Ukraine is “destruction of everything in front of them with artillery, so that only bare ruins and craters in the ground remain”, Mr Zelensky said.
Moscow is not planning a “Christmas ceasefire” in Ukraine, top spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
The war in Ukraine will enter its 11th month on Christmas eve with millions in the European country still under Russian siege.
