PM Modi visits Martyrologist Exposition in Kyiv: How children have borne brunt of Russia-Ukraine war

Aug. 23, 2024, 12:28 p.m.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the poignant Martyrologist Exposition on children at Ukraine's National Museum of History in Kyiv on Friday.

Modi, who is on a historic state visit to Ukraine, was joined by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The museum was established to honor the memory of children who have perished in the conflict.

According to The Times of India, the exhibition focuses on the most significant military conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries.

It also highlights the valiant efforts of Ukrainians to defend their freedom, independence, and cultural identity.

Advertisement “This conflict is particularly heartbreaking for young children. My deepest condolences go out to the families who have lost their children, and I pray for their strength in dealing with this sorrow,” Modi stated at the memorial, paying tribute to the deceased.

The Indian Prime Minister also contributed a toy to the exhibition as a gesture of respect.

“Children everywhere deserve to live in a safe environment. We must ensure this happens,” Zelenskyy emphasized.

Let's delve deeper into the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on children:

Death and violence

According to the Georgetown University website, over seven million children have been affected since the war's onset in February 2022.

These children have been exposed to violence, experienced the loss of family members, lost their homes, and faced disruptions to their education.

A joint statement released by UNICEF in May indicated that approximately 2,000 children have lost their lives since the war began, averaging roughly two children per day.

The UN’s Europe and Central Asia Regional Office and its regional director, Regina De Dominicis, said in a joint statement, “At least 1,993 children in Ukraine have been killed or injured since the escalation of war more than two years ago, an average of two child casualties each day.”

The organization stated that this figure represents only the verified cases and the true number is likely considerably higher.

Advertisement In July, an attack on Ukraine's largest children's hospital resulted in at least 42 fatalities.

Cardiac surgeon and anesthesiologist Dr Volodymyr Zhovni the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv told members of the UN Security Council that the ground shook and the walls trembled.

Both children and adults were overcome with fear, screaming and crying, while the injured writhed in pain.

It was a real hell, he added.

Rescue workers clear the rubble at the site of Okhmatdyt children’s hospital hit by Russian missiles. AP Zhovni said he heard people crying out for help from beneath the rubble.

Most of the over 600 young patients had been moved to bomb shelters for safety, except for those undergoing surgery, Zhovnir said.

Advertisement He stated that over 300 people were injured, including eight children, and two adults died, one of them a young doctor.

Russia has denied responsibility for the attack on the hospital, where at least two staff members were killed. Moscow has claimed that the building was hit by a Ukrainian air defense missile.

In May, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that attacks in the Kharkiv region had resulted in the deaths of civilians, including several children.

Trauma

Experts have expressed concern that the war is having a detrimental effect on the mental health and wellbeing of children.

The United Nations has reported that a significant proportion, approximately half, of teenagers have acknowledged facing difficulties with sleep.

One in five say they are having intrusive thoughts and flashbacks.

“As we witness in all conflicts, the irresponsible decisions and actions of adults are leading to the loss of lives, compromised safety, and shattered futures for children. Beyond the tragic deaths and physical harm inflicted by the attacks, a considerable number of children across Ukraine have endured levels of trauma and violence that are detrimental to their mental health and well-being. Half of young teenagers report experiencing sleep disturbances, and a concerning one in five are grappling with intrusive thoughts and recurring flashbacks,” the statement declared.

“Two years of this war is wreaking havoc on children’s mental health now. They have not been anywhere near a classroom for years, and they have not seen their friends. Many of their friends have gone,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told Voice of America in February.

“I have personally encountered parents and psychologists expressing their deep concerns about the social development of children, particularly the anxieties of young children when they are in groups, and the challenges faced by teenagers who are unable to interact with each other,” he remarked.

“This prolonged isolation and lack of social engagement, I believe, is amplifying everyone's fears — that the psychological scars left by two years of war are becoming increasingly evident among young people and their parents.”

According to UNICEF, children in major Ukrainian cities have spent an extended period, ranging from four to seven months, seeking shelter from the ongoing conflict in basements and underground subway stations.

The report highlighted the severe impact of this winter on children, stating that “thousands are seeking refuge in cold, damp basements” as a result of intensified attacks that have deprived many families of essential services like heat, water, and electricity.

“The ongoing shelling provides little respite for Ukrainian children to recover from the distress and trauma inflicted by the attacks,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell informed the website.

“Every alarm and explosion further intensifies their anxiety. Education serves as a beacon of hope, opportunity, and stability in children’s lives, yet it remains disrupted or inaccessible for countless Ukrainian children,” she added.

Elder expressed concern that children are being deprived of the simple joys and experiences that define childhood.

“The war shows no signs of abating,” Elder told VOA. “In fact, in certain regions, it has escalated. The intensity has increased over the past two months. This is driving children further into isolation, crushing their hopes.”

“Fewer and fewer children dare to dream about their future in the coming months. Everyone I speak with adopts a day-to-day approach. As one woman aptly put it, our primary objective is to endure the night and greet the morning,” he added.

Schooling disrupted

The education of millions of Ukrainian children has been severely affected by the conflict.

Human Rights Watch has documented that at least 3,790 educational institutions have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the war.

VOA reported in February that only two out of 700 schools in Kharkiv were still offering in-person classes.

While a majority of children are learning remotely, others are forced to attend classes in five Metro stations that have been converted into makeshift underground schools.

Ukraine’s schools have been left a wreck.

Human Rights Watch compiled a 71-page report titled "Tanks on the Playground" after visiting 50 schools in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and Mykolaiv regions.

Almost 90 school administrators, representatives of local authorities, and witnesses to Russia’s military activities were interviewed.

The report observed the damage to the schools from airstrikes, artillery bombardment, rocket attacks, and even cluster munitions.

The report elaborated on how Russian soldiers would steal and loot schools – taking away desktop and laptop computers, televisions, interactive whiteboards, other equipment, and heating systems – which is a violation of the laws of war.

Russia’s soldiers have also occupied schools – using them as lodging for their troops, storing ammunition, parking military vehicles on the grounds – as a base to attack Ukrainian soldiers.

Moscow’s soldiers used Kyivska’s Borodianska school, for instance, to fire on Ukrainian forces.

Serhii Zaichenko, 63, a school security guard, surveys the damage to his school in Mohrytsia, a town close to the Russia-Ukraine border, after a Russian airstrike. Zaichenko reported that two people, including one child, were killed. The school suffered significant damage as a result of the retaliatory fire.

Russian soldiers eventually withdrew, but not before vandalizing the school with anti-Ukrainian graffiti and a flag displaying a Nazi swastika.

“It was impossible to hold back tears,” the school's principal stated. “They [Russian forces] set up a makeshift bath in the cafeteria sink. There was blood on the walls in another room. They destroyed all the computers, filled everything with dirt, and simply stole the laptops.”

A resident of Izium in Kharkivska oblast told Human Rights Watch that she was facing challenges in providing her 14-year-old son with online education.

“There is no internet access, so video lessons are not possible,” she explained. “You can't just convey tasks to teachers over the phone, you need a laptop. He can't access the virtual classroom on his phone.”

“Ukrainian children have suffered greatly in this war because attacks on education are attacks on their future,” stated Hugh Williamson, director of the Europe and Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch.

“The global community should censure the damage and destruction of schools in Ukraine and the plundering by Russian forces.”

The United Nations reported that almost half of Ukrainian schoolchildren are missing out on in-person classes, with nearly a million children nationwide unable to access any in-person learning due to safety concerns. UNICEF is actively working across Ukraine to restore schools and shelters, providing at-home learning kits and online educational support to children. In the past year alone, they have reached 1.3 million children with formal and informal learning opportunities and 2.5 million children and caregivers with mental health and psychosocial support services.

The agency has called for an immediate end to hostilities in Ukraine and for "all children to be shielded from harm."

"Ukraine's children urgently require safety, stability, access to secure learning, child protection services, and psychosocial support. Above all, Ukraine's children need peace," the agency emphasized.

Deportation and ‘re-education’

To make matters worse, tens of thousands of children have been forcibly taken from their families.

Kyiv has said it estimates around 20,000 children have been taken from Ukraine to Russia without family or guardians’ consent.

However, it noted that the actual figure could be higher.

According to the Georgetown University website, numerous children have been relocated to Russia and Belarus.

Some have been placed in foster care and granted Russian citizenship, while others have been sent to camps for ‘patriotic re-education.’

Less than two percent of the abducted children have been returned to Ukraine.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued warrants against Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova on war crimes charges related to the abduction of Ukrainian children.

During an international summit in Switzerland in June, Mykola Kuleba, the head of a Ukrainian charity dedicated to returning the children, stated, “Russia is stealing our future.”

"Their strategy relies on deceit, brainwashing children, and the eradication of the Ukrainian people," Kuleba, founder and CEO of Save Ukraine, stated at an event in Lucerne, near the mountain resort where world leaders were convening.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued warrants against Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova on war crimes charges related to the abduction of Ukrainian children. He told the story of an eight-year-old girl who was sent to a Russian camp he said was designed to eradicate her Ukrainian identify.

“Children are prohibited from speaking Ukrainian or displaying Ukrainian symbols. They face severe punishment if they refuse to sing the Russian anthem,” he said.

Russian authorities routinely alter the names and dates of birth of these children, he added.

Save Ukraine has brought back 373 children, including 88 orphans, Kuleba said, adding that many returnees showed signs of psychological trauma.

He shared the story of a 5-year-old boy who witnessed his father being beaten by occupying soldiers, an event that has caused him nightmares and overwhelming fear.

Kuleba urged an international collaboration to collect information about the abducted children and facilitate their return home.

The Kremlin rejects the allegations.

Russia claims its actions were solely intended to protect vulnerable children from the war zone.

It denounced the warrants as “outrageous and unacceptable.”

Lvova-Belova rejected the accusations as false.

With inputs from agencies