On the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression and the Day of Remembrance for Children Killed as a Result of the Armed Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska, together with the parents of young Ukrainians who were killed and representatives of foreign diplomatic missions, honored the memory of the children killed by Russia.
“Now, that is at least 707 Ukrainian children. And thousands more children whom Russia has wounded and abducted. Thousands of children whose fate remains unknown. And all of this proves that there is no state in the world more deceitful than Russia. Their alleged strikes exclusively on military facilities and the goals of war invented by a sick imagination – all of this is instantly shattered by reality. Very plainly and clearly. Putin is a killer of children. Russia’s army is a killer of children,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The President emphasized that behind every number of Russian crimes are shattered childhood dreams, life plans, hopes, and the pain of every mother and every father. Among the Ukrainian children killed are a baby who could not yet even walk or speak, a girl who was sleeping in her own room, twin boys, and teenagers who, moments before a Russian strike, were on their way to their first date.
The Head of State noted that the so-called second army in the world is incapable of winning on the battlefield and asserts itself through the killing of children. The President recalled that Russia did this in Syria and Georgia, and will do so in other places where it comes.
“Compassion is important, but it is not enough. Statements are not enough. Condemnation is not enough. All of this is important, but today it is no longer sufficient. What is needed is real protection of life; action is needed. So that the fate of one child and the fate of one country never depend on whether Moscow has ballistic missiles or not. It is time to stop Russia. For real. Decisively and together. And only then, only at the moment when not a single child is killed by Russia’s hands anymore – not in Ukraine, not in Europe, nowhere in the world – only then will the remembrance and honor for these children, for our children, be genuine,” the President stressed.
Olena Zelenska emphasized that everyone in Russia who gives the order to launch a missile at a Ukrainian city must know that all of this is being documented and receiving a legal qualification.
“Holding the aggressor criminally accountable must become not a set of isolated cases, but systemic pressure – inevitable and tangible. The kind that makes the hand reaching for the launch button feel the weight of the sentence to come. And blessed memory must not remain mere memory. It must become evidence and a verdict. Dear ambassadors, representatives of the international community, the crimes against children in Ukraine have been documented, they have a legal qualification, and they are waiting for your political will. Not through compassion, but through action,” the First Lady said.
Among those present at the commemoration was Olha Shykula, who lost her veteran husband and three children in a Russian strike on a private house in the Kharkiv region on the night of February 11 this year. Also present were Roman Nikitskyi and Nataliia Nikitska: their 15-year-old son was killed as a result of a Russian attack on a playground in Kryvyi Rih on April 4, 2025.
“I want to address the representatives of foreign states. When, over time or even now, you hear calls in your countries that Russian sports, culture, and art are outside politics, that they should be allowed into some international competitions or that some profitable contract should be signed, remember the blood of our children, the blood of our women, the blood of our defenders – men and women – that was shed as a result of this criminal war,” Roman Nikitskyi said.
Those present honored the memory of the children killed by Russia with a moment of silence and placed toys at the wall of the children’s martyrology, which displays portraits of young Ukrainians who were killed.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to official data alone, Russia has killed at least 707 Ukrainian children, and another 2,548 have been wounded. The real number may be higher, as it is not possible to obtain full information from frontline regions and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
The International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression has been observed around the world since 1982. On June 4, 2022, the multimedia martyrology “Children” was opened in Kyiv.
