The Olympic Games have historically symbolised peace – from the ancient Olympic truce in Greece, when wars were paused to allow safe passage for athletes and spectators, to modern calls by the international community for a cessation of hostilities during the Games.

Yet russia has rejected two such calls for peace from Italy and continued choosing war, killing children.

On February 9, russian forces carried out a drone strike on the city of Bohodukhiv in the Kharkiv region, causing a fire in a private house and killing a 10-year-old boy and a 41-year-old woman.

On February 10, a mother and her 11-year-old daughter were killed in a russian airstrike on Sloviansk in the Donetsk region.

On the night of February 10, russian forces struck the Bohodukhiv community in the Kharkiv region again. Two one-year-old boys, a two-year-old girl, and their 34-year-old father were killed. After the strike, their mother, who is 35 weeks pregnant, was rescued. She suffered a closed head injury and burns to her torso.

The world must increase pressure on russia now to stop its cruel attacks on children.