'Russia is conducting state terrorism' says Ukraine’s defence minister, claims Kremlin has killed at least 150 children

Russia is conducting state terrorism in Ukraine and will go on to attack other countries, Ukraine defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Monday, news agency Reuters reported.

Reznikov was speaking alongside British defence minister Ben Wallace during a visit to London where he mentioned that at least 150 Ukrainian national children have been killed since the Russian invasion of their country.

He added that with continued shelling and bombardment from the Russian side, more than 400 schools and kindergartens and more than 110 hospitals were destroyed.

"This is a state terrorism. That is why (the) Kremlin must be stopped because it will go further. It will attack other countries," Reznikov said.

In the latest attack on civilians, at least eight people were killed on Monday after Russian forces bombed a shopping centre in Kyiv, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said, The Guardian reported. In a post on its Telegram channel, it said: “As a consequence of the enemy missile strike and the resulting fire, a shopping mall was destroyed, windows in the nearby residential buildings and the vehicles parked in the vicinity were damaged.”

In another incident, the Russian forces Sunday attacked a school that was sheltering people in the besieged southern city of Mariupol, authorities said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced Russia's bombardment of a school sheltering hundreds as an act of "terror", while urging direct talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as the only way to end the war.

Meanwhile, at least 902 civilians have been killed and 1,459 injured in Ukraine as of midnight local time on March 19, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Sunday. Most of the casualties were from explosive weapons such as shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and airstrikes, OHCHR said.

(with agency inputs)