Genocide of Donbass Civilians: Children

Artem Bobryshev, 4 years old. He was killed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) and National Guard on 18 January 2015 during an artillery shelling of the Kirovsky district of Donetsk, DPR. According to various sources, some 100 to 150 children were killed in Donbass between 2014 and 2021.

The highest death toll was in 2014-2015 when Kiev's "Anti-Terrorist Operation" turned into a war in southeast Ukraine that included air raids by the Ukrainian Army, the deaths of civilians, and the destruction of homes and infrastructure.

2014, Donetsk. Funeral for children killed in a school shelling.

On one hot and sunny day in July 2014, a beach in Avdeevka came under mortar fire. There were children on the beach at that moment. Not everyone survived.

28 August 2014, Lugansk. Teenagers were killed on a city street as a result of UAF shelling.

13 August 2014, Ilovaisk. Dima Pavlenko had his right leg blown off as a result of artillery shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

On 5 November 2014, another shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces cut short the lives of students at Donetsk School No. 65, who were playing football on the playground at the time.

7 November 2014. Funeral for Donetsk children killed in a school shelling.

Nine-year-old Vanya Voronov was seriously injured when a shell exploded in Shakhtyorsk, Donetsk region. The boy lost his eyesight, both legs, and an arm. He was transported to Moscow for treatment in 2015. Vanya's younger brother Timofey was killed.

Children in need of urgent medical treatment were evacuated to Russia. Almost 500 seriously ill children from the DPR and LPR during the conflict in Donbass received help from the director of the "Fair Aid" foundation, Elizaveta Glinka, better known as Dr Liza.

Arina Gusak, born in 2010. She was killed by UAF soldiers in Stakhanov, LPR. At 8 a.m. on 21 January 2015, Natalia was taking her 5-year-old daughter Arina to the kindergarten "Solnyshko". The same kindergarten that was hit by shells from Ukrainian "Uragan" multiple rocket launchers. Natalia and Arina were killed on the spot.

For many months, children and adults had to hide from shelling in bomb shelters set up by the militia.

July 2014. Children and adults hiding from UAF shelling.

2014. Donbass People's Militia fighters and children in the city of Snezhnoye.

Slavyansk. Abandoned toys in a kindergarten destroyed by Ukrainian Army shelling. The Ukrainian military targeted not only militia positions, but also kindergartens and schools.

Donetsk, 2015. During an evening requiem called "An Interrupted Flight" in memory of those children killed during the conflict in Donbass.

On 5 May 2015, the Alley of Angels, a memorial to those children killed during the war in Donbass, was opened in Lenin Komsomol Park in Donetsk.

2015, Rostov-on-Don. A woman and her child aboard a Russian Emergencies Ministry plane taking Donbass children to Moscow for treatment.

The youngest of those whose names are carved on the granite slab was less than a year old.

Every year on International Children's Day, people bring flowers to the memorial.

Young residents of Donetsk attend a flower laying ceremony at the Alley of Angels monument in memory of the children killed during the war in Donbass, a region in southeastern Ukraine.

People at the Alley of Angels memorial in Donetsk to commemorate those children killed in Donbass.

On 2 June 2017, the memorial was completed with a monument to the children of Donbass. The sculpture shows a boy looking up into the sky, shielding his younger sister.

2017. Eduard Basurin, a representative of the People's Militia of the DPR, and young residents of Donetsk at the Alley of Angels memorial.

2018, Donetsk. Participants in the "Angels" campaign light a Chinese lantern as part of International Children's Day in memory of those children killed during the war in Donbass.

“# 101” – graffiti on the wall of the destroyed Donetsk airport. This graffiti is dedicated to the children who lost their lives during the conflict in Donbass. Eight years of war have claimed the lives of more than a hundred children.