The lives of children are too easily forgotten. But the Council of Europe has a plan to hold the Kremlin to account
This week’s bombing of the main children’s hospital in the heart of Kyiv is the latest and most gruesome reminder of Vladimir Putin’s war crimes. They cannot go unpunished. Nato’s summit in Washington DC is the right moment not just to recommit to the defence of Ukraine, but also deepen and hasten the inquiry of the international criminal court (ICC) into Russian atrocities.
The casualties from the attack that flattened much of the Okhmatdyt hospital include children undergoing transplants and those who have cancer and kidney disease. TV footage has shown sick children amid the ruins, linked up to IV drips, awaiting evacuation. Their suffering came in a brutal day of multiple attacks across Ukraine that saw at least 41 people killed and 166 injured.
Gordon Brown is UN global ambassador for education and was UK prime minister from 2007 to 2010