The war in Ukraine has become not only a reality for adults, but also a terrible fate for defenseless children who have lost their families, homes and safety. For them, war is not an abstract concept, it is a terrible reality that has been a real test every day for more than two years, and it is hard to imagine a stable, peaceful world. In the areas where hostilities are taking place, children are forced to wake up and shudder throughout the day from the roar of explosions, see destroyed houses and streets, and feel fear and helplessness before the unjust power of war. Each shot is a blow to their little hearts, which have already experienced too much fear and grief. It is no longer surprising that children can easily identify the sounds of arrivals and departures, and distinguish between alarm and retreat sirens. There are an infinite number of them every day, for example, on March 8 in Kharkiv, sirens sounded 14 times, and their total duration was 10 hours and 30 minutes.
The most terrible aspect of a brutal military conflict is the death of children, because every dead child is not just a number in cold reports. It is a life that was taken away too soon and too cruelly, it is lost dreams and hopes and a future. The exact number of children who died during the war in Ukraine is difficult to determine due to the difficulties in collecting information. According to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, as of January 2024, 520 children were killed and more than 1,196 were injured of varying severity. The agency clarifies that these figures are not final, as work is still underway to establish them in the areas of active hostilities, as well as in the temporarily occupied and liberated territories. In the Kharkiv region alone, 79 children have died during the Russian invasion as of January 2024. According to Ukrainian and foreign experts, these are only the cases that have been documented, and the actual number of victims is much higher.
The number of children killed is increasing every day, as evidenced by the nighttime shelling of Kharkiv on February 10, which killed an entire family – a husband and wife and their three children: a seven-month-old baby, a 7-year-old and a 4-year-old boy. On the night of March 2, Ukraine experienced one of the bloodiest attacks in recent months as the Russian military attacked Odesa with kamikaze drones, killing 12 people, including five children, most of whom were under the age of three. In addition, many children become victims of mines and unexploded ordnance left in the area after the hostilities.
Legal experts of the UN Regional Center for Human Rights, as well as various children’s human rights organizations and international agencies, generally agree that as a result of armed conflict, shelling and other dangerous situations, as of March 2024, 534 children died in Ukraine, 1,240 children were injured, 2,102 children were reported missing, 24,129 children found their relatives, 19,546 children were deported and/or forcibly displaced (this number includes those children who left for the Russian Federation with their parents), and 388 children were returned from the Russian-occupied territories. At the same time, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine registered 867 criminal proceedings related to crimes against sexual freedom and sexual inviolability of children, sent 541 indictments to court, and sentenced 240 people.
One of the most high-profile cases against the Russian Federation since it attacked Ukraine has been the case of illegal deportation of children. According to the National Information Bureau, the aggressor country deported the largest number of children from Donetsk region: more than 13,600 cases were recorded. At least 1,600 children were taken from Kherson region and more than 1,300 from Zaporizhzhia region. In total, about 20,000 children have been illegally taken and deported, and these are only the cases in which information was collected. Most likely, the actual number of abducted children is much higher.
Ukrainian children suffer not only from fire, death, violence and illegal trafficking, they lose their loved ones, are deprived of the warmth of the family home, love and care that they so desperately need. Losing a family as a result of war is not only a physical loss, but also a serious psychological trauma. Hundreds of little hearts experience incredible tragedy, fear and pain every day, leading to depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental health issues with potential long-term outcomes and consequences. It is especially difficult for children who have lost both parents. They are forced to face the reality of shelters or orphanages, where they have to adapt to a new life and build relationships with their guardians or foster families.
Today, there is no accurate data on how many children have lost parental care as a result of the hostilities in Ukraine and have been completely orphaned. However, according to reports from international and non-governmental organizations, it is thousands of children. In September 2023, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubynets, reported that 10,153 children had been left without parental care since the beginning of the war, including 1,610 children who had been left without parental care due to the death or destruction of their parents. At the same time, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs and Peacebuilding, Rosemary DiCarlo, describing cases of sexual violence against Ukrainian children, destruction of schools and hospitals, said that the UN still does not have the necessary access to verify information about violations of children’s rights in the territory of Ukraine controlled by Russia.
In times of war, the economic and social issues of children, who make up almost 18% of the total population of Ukraine, are equally important. Young Ukrainians are forced to endure hunger, cold basements, lack of medicine and medical care, and many of them are deprived of the opportunity to receive a quality education and future prospects. The economic crisis and the loss of income by parents are destroying the material well-being of children, depriving them of the necessary quality of life. According to the results of the study, UNICEF stated that the war in Ukraine is pushing an entire generation of children to the edge of the abyss. The number of Ukrainian children living in poverty has almost doubled in just one year of war: from 43% to 82%. And the war has been going on for more than two years. The situation is particularly acute for the 5.9 million people who are currently internally displaced within Ukraine. According to a World Bank report, the poverty rate in Ukraine increased from 5.5% to 24.2% in 2022 and continues to grow rapidly in 2024. At the beginning of the war, one in four Ukrainians was below the poverty line, but analysts predict that the poverty rate in the country could reach 55%. In other words, almost every second person can fall below the poverty line, which directly affects the quality of life of children and deprives them of a happy childhood.
The military conflict in Ukraine is reflected not only on the geopolitical map, but also in the hearts of children. Despite the lack of accurate statistics, it is important to remember that each figure represents the real fate and need of each individual child.
Ensuring the safety and protection of children in time of war is one of the main tasks that should be before Ukrainian and global society, which requires cooperation between the government, the public and international organizations. However, first and foremost, we need to end the war, which is increasingly leading to tragic consequences and extraordinary suffering for both adults and children who have the right to a happy and safe childhood.
