Davit Kachkachishvili-
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, which began in February last year, around 500 children have been killed and around 1,000 have been injured, Anadolia reports.
Millions of children are exposed to the sounds of sirens and explosions every day.
World Children’s Day, June 1, is spent in the shadow of war and the struggle for survival.
More than 15 months of war between Russia and Ukraine have changed the lives of children in Ukraine, and millions of civilians have been forced to flee their country.
In the first years of life, children were forced to leave their native country and live in unknown places. The children who remained in Ukraine were either killed or injured or tried to get used to the sounds of explosions that accompanied the sirens every day.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said 483 children have died across the country so far.
In the records of Ukraine, there are data that 989 children were injured, and 19,501 children were forcibly taken to the Russian Federation.
In the conflicts between 2014 and 2022, which began in the Donbass region, with the annexation of Crimea by Russia, 152 children died.
Because of the war in Ukraine, millions of people had to leave their homes.
Thousands of children could not return to their homes in the Kharkiv region, where heavy clashes took place from the first day of the war and many settlements were destroyed.
The father of eight children, Valodya Kravchenko, had to leave the village of Kurilivka in the Kupyansk district.
They now live on the Kharkiv National University campus in Kharkiv.
“They saved us in the attacks on September 29 and brought us here. We became refugees in our country. The youngest child is one year old, the oldest is 20 years old. We have four boys and four girls. The first days were terrible,” said Kravchenko.
One of his daughters, Olesja (15), said that in the first days of the war, they were in great fear.
At that time, our brother was studying in Kharkiv and we were very worried about him because the city was bombed,” said Olesja.
Her 18-year-old sister Miroslava said that they were at home when the war started, and then they took refuge in a shelter.
“At that time, the bridges near our house were hit. During the explosion, the walls fell down, of course it was very scary. Our house was damaged. On the first day, we stayed in the shelter for ten hours,” said Miroslava.
Many children witnessed the death of their brothers and sisters.
Natalia Kucherenko (40), who was evacuated with her family from the village of Vilshana in the Kharkiv region to the city of Kharkiv, said that she could not return home for months.
During the war, her 18-year-old son was killed and another was wounded.
Ilija Gavrachenko (15) lost his brother, who was also injured in one of the attacks.
“Our schools are closed due to constant airstrikes, so now we have online classes,” said the ninth-grader.
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