children facing the horrors of war

Terrorized by the bombings, dragged along the roads, separated from their parents or even forcibly displaced by Moscow: since the start of the Russian invasion, children have been at the heart of the war in Ukraine. Ukraine estimates that more than 16,000 of them were forcibly sent to Russia. On Wednesday May 31, Volodymyr Zelensky opened a center for the protection of their rights in kyiv (Ukraine), in order to help child victims or witnesses of crimes and to bring back those who have been abducted. “I hope you will bring all the children back to Ukraine. I fully support your program, I want the children to come back while they are still children”says Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president.

500 children killed since the beginning of the conflict

From the side Russian too, the authorities seek to protect the youngest. Yesterday, Russia evacuated the children living in Belgorod (Russia), a locality bordering Ukraine, intensively bombarded for a few days. A first group of them was sent 250 km northeast of the city. More than 1,000 miners still need to be evacuated to other provinces. In March, Ukraine estimated that nearly 500 children had been killed since the start of the Russian invasion.