Stories of children • Children of war

In this section, you will find the stories of children affected by the full-scale war: injured, killed, kidnapped or detained by the Russian military and representatives of the occupational authorities. The section also publishes materials on the successful return of children and their reunification with the relatives after illegal deportation to Russia and the Republic of Belarus or after forced relocation to the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.

All interviews with children affected by the war were carefully prepared for and conducted under the guidance of a child psychologist by a team of professionals with maximum consideration of the child's interests.

You may use all materials in whole or in part for publication in your media outlets or to produce your own information products. After all, these materials were created specifically to limit the victims' communication about their traumatic experience, to avoid repetitive interviews and thus protect children and their relatives from re-traumatization.

We emphasize that the use of all photo, video and text materials from the "The Stories of Children" section is allowed under the condition of the mandatory reference to "THE CHILDREN OF WAR" State Portal for Missing and Displaced Children: https://childrenofwar.gov.ua

Oleksandr, 12 years old, MariupolThe Russians captured 12-year-old Sashko and his mother, Snizhana, in Mariupol in March 2022. They separated them in the filtration camp, not allowing them to say goodbye to each other. Sashko was sent to the hospital with an eye injury. Later, they said, they would place him in an orphanage until a Russian foster family adopts him. However, thanks to the boy's courage, his grandmother Lyudmyla's efforts and the coordinated work of a large team of governmental and non-governmental organizations and services, he was returned to the territory controlled by Ukraine.