The date does not matter. Russia has been targeting Children for centuries… The Czars, the Soviets, through Stalin’s mass murders, The Holodomor to name just one; Mass deportations Crimean Tartars, not just once but twice last century and repressions continuing to this day, while Russia claims Crimea as its own.
Understanding Russian aggression is impossible for most of us. Acceptance that children are deserving victims is equally impossible.
The Russian full-scale war, the indiscriminate attacks on a sovereign country -Ukraine; against Civilians; Schools; hospitals; innocents; makes me wish that the world would come to an end. Lord knows, Putin is marching in that direction.
Humanity and Humane are oxymorons.
“DETY: Where are you?”
Please listen to this haunting melody… you will immediately understand the horrors children face, unless you are a sociopath. This project was born of clashes: Russia’s genocidal war, the battle for the hearts and minds in the Informational domain.
I don’t speak Russian, never heard it growing up in Canada, was never oppressed by the Russians personally. They did shoot my uncle Hryhoriy, in 1941, a 19-year-old student along with 16 others. In his possession, the NKVD confiscated and destroyed Ukrainian language books on history, culture, politics, apparently criminal enough to deserve death at the hand of the Russians. Guilty, for being Ukrainian.
But that was 80 years ago, another time, another story, but the facts show that, yet again, nothing has changed.
March 16, 2024, marks the second anniversary of the Mariupol Theatre bombing. Unknown hundreds were slaughtered. Innocent civilians, young old, men, women, mothers-to-be, newborns, babies, children.
Unknown numbers and the lives behind them, unknown because the Russians still occupy the city of Mariupol, now rebuilding it as another Potemkin village.
The Russian word “DETY” was written on the pavement at the front and at the back of the Mariupol Theatre. But instead of providing safety, the Russian word for “children” pointed the way for the murderers.
Russia is a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed by Russia Does this mean nothing? Or is it just another piece of paper, like so many other memoranda Ukraine has signed before with international partners?
For Ukrainians, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, means everything. The right to lo Live, to survive today, thrive tomorrow.
Remember when Ukraine gave up its nukes for the promise of sovereign security. Who were the guarantors? Do I need to remind you?
Attention World! Do you remember the “Peace Dividend?” The Collapse of the Evil Empire garnered Years of complacency, the neutering of Military, Defense Industries. Today the Free World is playing catch-up.
What about Cowardice? The Free World’s inability to stand firm against Putin disguised as a “go slow” approach of providing weapons and support for Ukraine. Not enough to win, but also insufficient to secure the Sovereignty and the Lives of Ukrainians. If this is not enough, then Ukraine will lose.
“Heaven forbids, we poke the Russian bear.”
Déjà vu? Chamberlain? Appeasement? World War Two? How did that work out? Yes, the Allies won. Appeasement is a cruel abomination of the “peace.”
Location, Location, Location!
Has the world forgotten the wars of the last century that were fought on the bloodlands of Ukraine, Poland and Belarus? Obviously, Lukashenko has forgotten. Do they not see Russia encroaching again? Three times within a century?
Yet again.
There are no closed borders. The World is interconnected. Not in my back yard (NIMBY)? The Border? Far too often, facts don’t matter. The enemy is at the gates. For shame. Democracy itself is at stake.
And the list of Russian atrocities grows daily. As part of the “DE TY: Where are you?” project, we compiled a list of stats illustrating was crimes against children from various sources, after two years of full-scale war:
| Ukrainian Children | Russia’s 2022-2024 War |
| KILLED BY RUSSIA | 528 |
| WOUNDED | 1,226 |
| DEPORTED TO RUSSIA | 19,546 |
| RETURNED FROM RUSSIA | 388 |
| SEX. ABUSED | 13 |
| EXILED BY RUSSIA (DPs) | 1,800,000 |
| INTERNALLY DISPLACED | 2,500,000 |
| MISSING | 2,140 |
| FOUND | 23,599 |
| WITHOUT PARENTAL CARE | 13,388 |
| ORPHANED | 1,759 |
| PARENTS HELD AS POWs BY RUSSIA | 12 |
| BOMBED SCHOOLS | 3,500 |
| SCHOOLS DESTROYED | 400 |
Let us honour our Children. Let us protect them. That is their Right: to be a Child.
Steven Ostafichuk
Educate yourself. Donate. Spread the word.
Steven Ostafichuk
