Children's protection day

June 1 is observed as International Children’s Day, dedicated to the well-being of younger generations. June 4 marks the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, established by the United Nations in 1982. On the same day, Ukraine commemorates the children who lost their lives as a result of russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.

The war that began in 2014 and escalated into russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 destroyed the peaceful lives of millions of families and caused numerous child casualties.

Official statistics from the state platform “Children of War” reflect the scale of these losses. To date, more than 550 children have been killed, while the number of injured children exceeds 1,400.

One of the most severe manifestations of the aggression is the mass deportation of children by russia from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The russian side organizes these transfers under the guise of summer camp rehabilitation, medical treatment in sanatoriums, or emergency evacuation. After being taken away, children are left in complete isolation from their families and from the legal framework of Ukraine.

russian authorities impose forced changes of citizenship and identity. Simplified adoption mechanisms have been introduced, during which children’s names, surnames, and dates of birth are entirely altered in order to complicate future searches by their relatives.

Within russian institutions, Ukrainian children are subjected to intensive ideological indoctrination. They are forced to absorb distorted historical narratives and are raised in the spirit of aggressive militarism aimed at erasing their national identity and creating loyalty to the aggressor state.

Ukrainian state authorities have officially documented the deportation of more than 19,500 children. The real number is believed to be higher, as access to occupied territories remains limited.

The return of every child requires careful and complex efforts, as the russian side conceals the lists of transferred individuals and their locations. Thanks to the activities of the state initiative Bring Kids Back UA and the support of international partners, hundreds of children have already been returned home.

These rescue operations are individual and extremely difficult, as relatives are often forced to travel long distances through third countries in order to reunite with their children. This process requires coordinated action from the international community to restore justice and protect human lives in the 21st century.