Report: A Stolen Childhood Crimes against children committed by Russian troops - Instytut Pileckiego
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25.06.2025 (Wed)
Report: A Stolen Childhood Crimes against children committed by Russian troops
The report contains accounts from more than 100 Ukrainian citizens, including 12 children, who suffered or witnessed crimes against children at various stages of military operations and occupation during Russia’s aggression against Ukraine between 2014 and
In addition to the accounts gathered by the Lemkin Center, the report also includes findings from the work of the Ukrainian charity Save Ukraine.
The publication presents a wide range of legal violations committed by the occupying forces, including breaches of humanitarian law, international criminal law and – in many cases – criminal offences. The report also discusses the social and psychological aspects of the extreme circumstances experienced by the children. The crimes described by the witnesses may be classified as acts of genocide.
Witness accounts were anonymized to ensure the safety of their authors. The sole exception is the story of the murdered Stepan Chubenko. His personal details are widely known, as the tragic death of the Ukrainian boy has become a symbol of Ukrainian children murdered by Russia since 2014.
The ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine since 2014 means that Ukrainian children below the age of 10 do not remember a world without war, forced migrations, resettlements, and the constant threat to their own lives and the lives of their families. They will have to grow up and raise future generations with the burden of this experience.
At the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022, the Pilecki Institute established the Lemkin Center – a specialized department that has collected 1,600 personal eyewitness accounts of crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine. The activities undertaken by the Center aim to commemorate the mass atrocities of Russia’s authoritarian regime, especially those committed in Ukraine.
The photograph used on the report’s cover and at the top of this article depicts the destroyed building of an elementary school in Pisky, Donetsk Oblast, 2015. Photo: Monika Andruszewska
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