AGENCY: 1M UKRAINIAN CHILDREN NEED AID

An estimated 1 million children need humanitarian aid as fighting persists in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russian rebels, the United Nations International Children’s Fund said Friday.

That is nearly double the number of children in need a year ago, according to UNICEF, which said one in five of the more than 740 schools in eastern Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed in the conflict.

At least 33 people, including civilians, were killed and several dozen injured in fighting earlier this month in eastern Ukraine, The Associated Press reported. The death toll in the fighting that started in April 2014 has now reached more than 9,800, according to the U.N.