Variation #1
By KS Lack
Print: Variated Edition 12/18
Frame: Ukrainian children’s blocks, wood
The children of Ukraine are under attack. As of September 4, 2024:
572 children have died
1,573 children have been injured
19,546 children have been “deported and/or forcibly displaced”
1,918 children are missing and cannot be accounted for
Children across the country are killed and injured by Russia’s bombing of civilian targets. Those living in the path of invasion face enemy fire and the constant threat of abduction. Russian soldiers litter the ground with mines as they retreat, causing maiming and death regardless of age.(A)
Even for those children fortunate enough to avoid physical harm, the psychological damage is monumental. How to measure the cost of a loved one being killed? Of schools closed from being bombed? Of the incessant sound of air raid sirens splitting the sky? How many children forced to flee their homes will never return?
Russia’s assault on Ukraine’s children has been planned and purposeful. It takes thought to bomb the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine or a building with the word “children” scrawled in Russian on the pavement in front, in letters large enough to be seen from the air. It takes planning to assimilate Ukrainian children into Russian culture through detention camps and forced adoption.
The world has acknowledged the horror taking place: Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights have been accused of war crimes, with the Hague issuing a warrant for their arrest. It is a toothless gesture.
There are many ways to kill a country—destroying a nation by eradicating its children is among the cruelest.
A) For more on landmines in Ukraine, see Variation #22.
See below for further reading and background.
Numbers from childrenofwar.gov.ua, a “portal created as a tool for finding children, rescuing them, and liberating them from places of forced displacement or deportation”. These numbers only begin from 24 Feb 22 and do not include those children harmed since the beginning of the war in 2014.
Russia’s systematic program for the re-education and adoption of Ukraine's children, Conflict Observatory Report, 14 Feb 23.
Russian Federation’s Attack on Ukrainian Children’s Hospital ‘Not Only a War Crime’ but ‘Far Beyond the Limits of Humanity’, Medical Director Tells Security Council, United Nations, 9 July 24.
Russian military bombs theatre with ‘children’ painted on the ground outside it. National Post Wire Services, 16 Mar 22.
The Children Russia Tried to Steal, Foreign Policy, 23 Feb 24.
The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Putin, NPR, 17 Mar 23.
