More than half of all children in Ukraine have been displaced since the Russian invasion began on February 24, UNICEF said in a statement on Friday.

Since the beginning of the invasion, as many as 4.3 million children out of Ukraine’s estimated child population of 7.5 million have been displaced, UNICEF said, adding that among the displaced, 1.8 million children had fled to neighbouring countries, while 2.5 million had been displaced internally.

Also read | Mass graves in Mariupol? UN rights office says evidence suggests so

“The war has caused one of the fastest large-scale displacements of children since World War II,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell commenting on the situation in Ukraine.

“This is a grim milestone that could have lasting consequences for generations to come. Children’s safety, wellbeing and access to essential services are all under threat from non-stop horrific violence,” Russell added.

The UNICEF statement went on to say that at least 78 children had been killed since the beginning of the Russian invasion, while at least 105 had been injured. However, it also said that the official estimates are likely to be far lower than the actual toll of the ongoing war.

UNICEF’s statement is the latest among a series of reports on the plight of Ukrainians.

Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that at least 64 health facilities had been attacked in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, and called the indiscriminate attacks on health facilities “dehumanizing.”

Also read | Russia’s expulsion from G20 will be ‘nothing terrible’, says Kremlin

Estimates, meanwhile, suggest that as many as 1.4 million people in Ukraine do not have access to safe water, while another 4.6 million have limited access or risk being cut off from safe water supply altogether.

Among children, an estimated 450,000 kids aged six to 23 are also in need of complementary food support.