From: Ira Kapitonova in Kyiv (Day 1197)
His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
Psalm 147:10-11
June 4 is the day when Ukraine honors the memory of children who died as a result of russia’s armed aggression. According to the official data, since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, at least 631 children have been killed, and another 1,971 have been injured. And these are only confirmed cases. Almost 2 million children left Ukraine to seek refuge abroad and are not likely to return home. Thousands of children were abducted by russia and are now brainwashed and trained in their military camps to become new cannon fodder for the bloodthirsty regime.
However, the toll this war takes on children is beyond the statistics or anything that can be recorded. How do you report sleepless nights and anxiety from the missile attacks?
We took our students on a picnic today to reward their Reading Month efforts. We were enjoying our time in the park when the air raid sirens went off. The children came to our side, wondering what we should do as we were far from any bomb shelter (but the park itself was a relatively safe location). The teacher who was with me suggested that we pray, and we had three volunteers who prayed for “the missile not to kill us” and that we wouldn’t “hear the explosions.” These are the things on the minds of 10-year-olds.
And today russia spat out more threats of revenge after Ukraine’s successful attacks on their military airfields. We are fully aware that more attacks are possible, not out of revenge, but out of habit – that’s what they have been doing for the past three years! And they will keep doing it until they feel a stern “No! Not excusable” from the world powers.
Russia keeps violating every moral law, and they find ways to trick Ukrainian teenagers into collaborationism. There are numerous reports of teenagers being headhunted through various chat groups. They are offered a small job for good pay to earn extra cash. After they do something small, they are blackmailed until they agree to do a bigger job. They are threatened with reports to the police. Their cell phones are hacked, and they are told that their private pictures or messages will be made public. Teenagers are shamed into agreeing to make explosives and deliver them to an agreed-upon location with a promise that the threats will stop after that or that they will receive a large sum of money. However, they are just disposable tools to the enemy, so the explosives are usually set off at the time of delivery so that there are no traces of the victim and no need to pay off the “debt.” There are several reports like that, and I wonder how many more cases go unreported.
Russia is trying to exterminate our young generation, which is why we need to do our best to invest in those entrusted to our care. I cherish every day that’s left of this school year. They may not be easy, but they are certainly worth it.
Voice of Ukraine 