russia’s war in Ukraine: the stories of Ukrainian children

The war. It is month four of russia's full-scale aggression against Ukraine. There are hundreds of deceased, thousands of ruined children's destinies. Suffering and violence against children, the purest of this world: this is Ukrainian reality now, and it makes the world shudder.

For four months, Ukrainian children have to live through their childhood in bombshells or flee the explosions to different parts of Ukraine or the world. Anything for the sake of safety. But they were supposed to be safe at home, by their parents' side. russia took this away.

Ukrainian kids tell about seeing russists

with weapons in their yards, about tanks aiming at their families. They tell stories of how the wounded mother fell asleep next to them and never woke up again. These are stories about the father who got shot in the head and their brother or sister being raped.

Ukrainians' task is to make monumental efforts to save children whom russia wants to kill or "denazify". Ukraine, which is now defending its future from russian barbarians, needs the comprehensive help of the world, modern powerful weapons, endurance, and strength to protect the lives of the most precious — of our children.

And yet we must speak loudly about our sorrow so that the whole world can hear what is happening with Ukrainian children in Ukraine.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child enshrines children's rights to life, survival, and development, as well as, access to water, food, shelter, health, education, and freedom from all forms of violence. Children have the right to care, assistance, and protection. Unfortunately, history has repeatedly shown that children are one of the most vulnerable groups in any armed conflict.

"Unknown № 1"

A 7-year-old boy from Kyiv was one of the first victims of the russian army. On February 25, russians shelled his family's car, and the boy's parents were killed. The ambulance took him to Okhmatdyt (Ed. children's hospital) in Kyiv in extremely grave condition. The child was unconscious and had lost a lot of blood. The boy was diagnosed with a shrapnel wound to the right side of the neck, multiple shrapnel injuries to soft tissues, a laceration to the head, and a concussion. In the documents, the injured child was listed as "Unknown № 1". Doctors fought for his life for several days, but on March 1, the child died…

"Flower prosthesis" dream

Nine-year-old Sasha tried to evacuate from Hostomel with her family in March. The russians shelled their car. Her step-father died on the spot, and little Sasha was seriously injured. Sasha, her mother, and her sister managed to reach the nearest bomb shelter, where they stayed for two days. The girl's condition was getting worse, and she started losing consciousness, hallucinating, and was in terrible pain. The russians still did not allow them to leave and continued constant shelling the city. Fortunately, kind people holding a white flag helped carry the girl to the hospital under permanent shelling. Little Sasha had her arm amputated because of the wound, but her life was saved. After a few days, they managed to evacuate from the war zone. After the surgery, the girl said she dreamed of the "flowered prosthesis."

Upside down boat

4-year-old Sashko and his grandmother were fleeing russists in the Kyiv region. On June 10, Sukholucha villagers of the Vishgorod region began to evacuate since russians started shelling residential quarters. They decided that the best option to leave the village would be to cross the river. Women with children used two boats. The first one reached Rovzhі village, and the second one, with Sashko and his grandmother, didn't. The next day, the boat was found upside down. Sasha's grandmother drowned, and Sashko was nowhere to be found. Almost in a month, the child was located, unfortunately, dead.

Future buried in ruins

In mid-March, an 11-year-old gymnast, Kateryna Dyachenko, was killed in a shelling by the russian occupiers in Mariupol. She was a little star of Ukrainian rhythmic gymnastics. She has repeatedly won major competitions in her age category. She dreamed of loud victories and had every reason to do so. She died in Mariupol under the ruins of a house smashed by an enemy shell. The whole country mourned for the little athlete. During those days, Mariupol was in a real hell.

"CHILDREN"  

Mariupol is the city that suffered the most from the occupiers. There are no buildings intact left; the russian military bombed 90% of the city. On March 16, the occupiers dropped a bomb on the Drama Theater in Mariupol. Hundreds of women and children who lost their homes due to the shelling were hiding in the theater building. There were two large "CHILDREN" signs in the yard of the Mariupol Drama Theater, which was attacked by the russians. The inscriptions were made to be seen by spotters and aviation pilots, and they didn't shell the theater. That did not stop the russian pilot, and a massive bomb was dropped from the plane on the Mariupol theater. Of the 1,200 people hiding there from Russian shelling, only 300 managed to escape from the rubble.

"Sad symbolism"

In Mariupol, blocked by russian invaders, two girls-actresses, who played in a theater play, were killed. The girls played the role of Lucy in Mariupol Theater's play "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", based on the book "The Chronicles of Narnia". "What a sad symbolism, because "The Chronicles of Narnia" was written in the London Underground during the Nazi bombing of Britain. Occupiers can not and will not be forgiven," commented Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of the long-suffering city.

Separated with her mother

Four-year-old Alisa lived for two months in a bunker near the "Azovstal" plant in Mariupol. Her mother is a military doctor. She treated Azovs, marines, border guards, and civilians, who also hid in the basement of the "Azovstal" plant. Besides Alice and her mother, there were hundreds of civilians with children in the factory's basement, where they found the only possible shelter from the russian military. During the evacuation from the Azovstal plant, the russians separated the woman from her four-year-old daughter. The occupiers did not release little Alice's mother from the so-called filtration camps. The girl arrived in Zaporizhia on an evacuation bus alone. It is still unknown where her mother is now.

Mother was holding her child until her last heartbeat

Unfortunately, the story of 10-year-old Illya is similar to those of many children in Mariupol. From the very beginning of the full-scale russia's invasion, his mother and he stayed in their hometown, hid in their house, and lived in the basement. One day, they had to run to their neighbors to escape the shelling. But they couldn't. That day, the woman received a head injury, and the boy's leg was torn apart. Wounded and exhausted, they were lying and hugging each other. The mother held her son until her last heartbeat. Then their acquaintances took the woman's body, and the next day the russian military decided to take the boy to occupied Novoazovsk by force.
Meanwhile, Illya's grandmother in Ukraine was looking for all possible ways to get her grandson back. She formalized the custody and crossed the borders of four countries to take the boy home.

Shot on their way to get bread

In the village of Gavrylivka, Novovorontsov district of the Kherson region, the russian occupiers shot a group of teenagers. A 15-year-old boy died of his injuries. The children went for bread and flour and, seeing the russian military, started fleeing. The occupiers opened fire on them. The russists thought that the children wanted to take pictures of russian equipment.

After Kramatorsk

A boy from the village of New York in the Donetsk region immediately grew up when a russian missile struck the Kramatorsk railway station. The boy's twin sister and mother, who were on the platform at the time of the explosion, lost their legs. At the beginning of April, the mother decided to take the children away from the shelling. On April 8, the family went to Kramatorsk railway station to board an evacuation train. While waiting for the train, Yana asked her mother for tea, which volunteers made on the platform. Yaroslav remained to guard things inside. When Yana and her mother went outside, there was an explosion; a russian missile hit the station. At that time, up to 4,000 people were at the station, hoping to get evacuated. The missile attack killed 50 people, 5 of them were children, and nearly 100 were injured. Now, 11-year-old Yaroslav takes care of his sister and mother.

Three generations of one family 

On April 23 russian missile strike on a multi-story building in Odesa killed eight people. There was a three-month-old girl named Kira among the deceased. Her father went to the store that morning, and her mother and grandmother stayed at home with Kira. Three generations of the same family died in an instant. Occupant missile that hit the apartment killed a young woman, her 3-month-old daughter, and her mother. Was that innocent baby a threat to russia? The whole world has seen that murdering children is a new national idea in ​​russia.

A baby in his father's arms

On May 26, a 5-month-old baby and his father were killed because of ruscists shelling in Kharkiv. They used howitzers in the city. When the shelling started, a young family was walking in the street. The father was holding a 5-month-old baby in his arms. The man died immediately, and the woman was hospitalized in serious condition. Police later found the child's body. The baby was thrown up on the roof of the house by the explosive wave from the father's hands.

Ukrainian children die not only because of enemy shelling. They bleed and die from injuries when they get raped by russian soldiers. The civilized world was shocked by Bucha, Irpin, and Makariv.

For example, in Irpin, the Kyiv region, the three russian occupiers beat and raped the 17-year-old girl's mother and her 15-year-old sister with extreme cruelty, killing them both. Ukraine's ombudswoman Lyudmila Denisova published the story with the permission of the girl and her grandmother. The girl was in psychological shock and lived with the corpses in the house for four days. Only after the city liberation was she able to get to her grandmother. She said that while they were murdering her relatives, they held her hostage but didn't touch her. They said, "because she is a freak". Psychologists are currently working with teenager.

"The second Bucha is currently taking place in the occupied Kherson region," says Denisova. The hotline receives dozens of calls from victims of violence and their relatives from the region. The ombudswoman said the occupiers raped girls aged 12 and 15, a six-month-old girl with a teaspoon, a three-year-old boy, and two-year-old twins in front of their mother. The boys died of tears and bleeding.

The above-mentioned stories are just a small number of published cases. 242 children have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war. At least 440 children were injured. And every day, the numbers are only increasing. The exact number of children killed and wounded in russia's invasion, cannot be determined. After all, a part of Ukraine is occupied, or the battles are ongoing there.

ruscists kill children even where they have declared "liberation from Ukraine." On May 26, an explosion took place on the territory of a school in occupied Mariupol. A 12-year-old boy was killed by the detonation of an unexploded russia's "Grad" shell. The russian weapons continue to kill children in Mariupol even when active hostilities end.

It is impossible to get used to it. And we must not! We must not get used to the atrocities that russia is committing! Today is the 98th day of a full-scale war. Our children continue to be injured, orphaned, and killed. Their houses are falling, and schooling stops. The russian army destroys schools, orphanages, and hospitals. The daily life and happy childhood of these children are destroyed.

None of these stories are stories of collateral conflict damage. They are all about genocide. The russian soldiers kill Ukrainians just because they are Ukrainians. The russian army is destroying Ukraine because it is Ukraine.

Among the signs of genocide is the forcible transfer of children to other groups. According to russian sources, as of May 21, the terrorist state deported more than 232,000 children to its territory. More than two thousand are either orphans or separated from their parents. Meanwhile, the russian parliament is preparing to simplify the procedure for adopting Ukrainian children by russian citizens. It is not about humanism. It is about the madness of hatred and destruction under the slogans of humanism," the head of the President's Office of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, said on May 23 during his speech at the Davos forum.

Politicians and journalists are not the only ones talking about the tragedy of Ukrainian children. Six-year-old Ilya from Mariupol responded to an open letter from British Prime Minister Borys Johnson to Ukrainian children.

Due to russia's aggression, Ilya lost his entire family: his mother died in the explosion of the bridge, and his father went missing. Ilya spent three weeks under bombardment, then walked with volunteers from Mariupol to Berdyansk, the Zaporizhia region.

"Dear Boris Johnson! I want the war to end as soon as possible so that people do not die again. I want to play football at home in Mariupol. I want all children in the world to have no war. Greetings to all the children in Britain, and thank you for your help. We will win. I have a cat Frosya. I am sending you the flag of Ukraine that I drew. Hugging you tightly. Ilya. Six years, " the boy wrote.

Ilya and other children affected by the war can be helped by assisting and supporting Ukraine, providing it with the necessary weapons, without making concessions to a state that openly destroys civilians and children.

• Charitable foundation "Voices of children": no child should be left alone with the trauma of war. You can support it by following the link. 
• Charitable foundation "Tabletochki": support the brave ones during the war. You can help by following the link.
• Charitable foundation "Hero's children": you can help children who have lost one or both parents, as a result of russia's invasion of Ukraine, here.