August 03, 2026

A Twisted Tale of Child Martyrdom


A Twisted Tale of Child Martyrdom
Residents of the Komi Republic remember child victims of Russia’s War on Ukraine.  News outlet Komi Inform

On July 27, residents of Syktyvar, the capital of the Komi Republic in northern Russia, held a memorial for children killed as a result of Russia’s occupation of Donetsk in 2014 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. And the Russian media put the blame for the several hundred children’s deaths in Russian-occupied regions squarely on Ukraine.​

The Day of Remembrance for Child Victims of the Kyiv Regime was first established in 2022 by the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the illegally occupied Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. July 27 is a significant date because the 2014 Battle of Horlivka began on this date.

In response to the Russian seizure of Crimea and later Donbas in the spring of 2014, Ukrainian forces tried to recapture Horlivka, a city in Donetsk Oblast. The resulting civilian casualties from shelling, including of a young mother and her 10-month-old child (named the Horlivka Madonna by Russian media), have been used by Russia as evidence of Ukrainian brutality.  

​Since its 2022 establishment, the Donbas Children’s Remembrance Day has spread nationally and even gained momentum beyond Russia’s borders. In a typical memorial service, like the one in Syktyvar, participants read names of child victims of the war.

​In truth, children are some of the most heart-wrenching victims of armed conflict. In times of war, they are thrown into hotbeds of conflict as innocent victims of circumstance.

Although the attitudes of interviewees attending the Syktyvar memorial express great sympathy for child victims of Russia’s War on Ukraine, they, not surprisingly, cannot acknowledge Russia’s role as an aggressor.

​Elena Lifenko, a widow whose late husband received the Hero of the Komi Republic award, the republic’s highest honor, gave casualty numbers: “Since 2014, more than 250 children have died in Donbas.”

Kirill Cheusov, a veteran of Russia’s war on Ukraine, said simply of the children, "They are martyrs; they all suffer.”

​Following a reading of the children’s names and ages, attendees set flowers and toys at the foot of a teachers' monument. 

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