Elisei Ryabukon was 13 years old when he was killed in a convoy evacuating the gunfirehit war zone.
Photo: Family Archives / BBC News Brazil
Evhen Ryabukon tapped the coffin lightly. He appeared to be having one last conversation with his son. He cried and cried and cried before he could finish speaking.
The mother, Inna, was preparing to say goodbye. She framed a picture of a smiling boy, now in a coffin: the final act of caring for her son.
The boy’s name was Elisei Ryabukon. Next month he would be 14 years old.
A little over a month after Elisei was shot dead by Russian soldiers, family, friends, neighbors and colleagues gathered at a church in the town of Brovary, in neighboring Kyiv, to say goodbye to the child. The congregation, scattered during the war, was now gathered in mourning.
Elisei was remembered by those close to him as sincere, humble, and helpful. A boy who did not like to fight and refused to engage in aggressive sports.
Elisei was with her mother and a younger brother, all of whom were trapped in the village of Peremoha, when the invasion began.
“On March 11, the Russians gave us permission to go. They even said goodbye and wished us luck. Then when we crossed a field, they started shooting at us from all directions,” said Inna.
There were five cars in the convoy evacuating civilians from the war zone. Elisei was in the second car. Nobody in the vehicle survived.
“I crawled across the field and rescued my other threeyearold son by pulling the hood of his jacket.
Inna says the youngest child is the only reason to keep going. She has filed a complaint with the police and wants justice for Elisei’s murder.
“I want the world to know about Russia’s crimes. I want all victims to be counted. I want Russia to be held accountable for the people, children and women it has killed in our country,” she said.
Elisei’s grandmother cries for him at the funeral
Photo: BBC News Brazil
According to the country’s government, Elisei is one of more than 200 children killed so far in the war in Ukraine. It is possible that there are others that are not yet registered. Hundreds were injured.
Ohmatdyt Hospital has taken in dozens of children who were victims of the attacks.
Daniil Avdeenko, 6, was taken to hospital from the northern city of Chernihiv, which had been surrounded and bombarded by Russian forces. The siege ended in early April.
Daniil and his parents were injured in a bomb attack in a residential area.
When the explosion happened near the family home, everyone was thrown to the ground. Daniil’s father Oleksandr saw that his wife’s leg was bleeding profusely. He used the strap of a leather bag as a tourniquet, a decision that saved his leg from amputation.
Oleksandr called Daniil’s name, who replied that he was fine. But when the boy wanted to get up, Oleksandr realized how hurt he was.
Daniil Avdeenko was wounded in a Russian mortar attack
Photo: BBC News Brazil
“I saw he had shrapnel [de morteiro] all over his body and that he was bleeding profusely,” he said.
Father, mother and son were each taken to different hospitals.
“For the first four days we didn’t know who was alive and who wasn’t. They didn’t register my son’s name at the time of recording,” Oleksandr said.
In the end, the family was reunited and taken to Kyiv for treatment.
Daniil had shrapnel shrapnel in his head which was removed, but shrapnel is still lodged in his back. Doctors say removal would be too painful at this point. The boy has multiple injuries and fractures in his leg. It is not yet known when he will be able to walk again.
Most of the time, the boy is happy, but when he needs an injection, he lets out soft cries of pain.
“He tells the nurses at the hospital all the details of how we were covered in blood. He remembers everything. But he blames himself. Just before it happened I told him to go downstairs with his mother. But he insisted come with me,” says Oleksandr. “I explained that it’s not his fault. We all are.”
At the beginning of the war, Oleksandr says, Daniil asked many questions.
“When there was a shot, he would ask, ‘Dad, who’s going to shoot?’ I said ‘we’. ‘What now?’ he asked. At night he dreamed of tanks. When the bombs fell he would wake up startled, but despite it all he was still having fun but when the attack began [em terra]it has changed drastically,” says Oleksandr.
Even those who managed to escape physically unharmed bear psychological trauma.
Ilya Bobkov, 13, fled with his family from Bucha (outskirts of Kyiv), which had been under Russian control for weeks.
They managed to escape through a humanitarian corridor opened in March for the evacuation of civilians. His family now lives in a room in a rundown government building in Kyiv.
“February 24, when the war started, was very shocking. I expected a normal day: going to school, doing homework, and playing video games. But my mother comes into my room and tells me to pack a backpack. . Soon we started living in the basement. It was very scary. It was difficult to spend the nights,” says Ilya.
Ilya Bobkov fled Bucha, where Ukrainians claim Russians committed war crimes
Photo: BBC News Brazil
Until they were safe, Ilya and his family saw burning buildings, destroyed tanks and corpses along the way.
“I can’t shake the feeling that the war is still around us. I dream that my family dies or is taken hostage by the Russians. I wake up in a cold sweat,” says Ilya.
His aunt Valentyna Solokova, who was also evacuated from the war zone with Ilya’s family, says they tried to distract the children by playing games or looking at family photos. They also had to have difficult conversations, especially when food was running low.
“I told the children that bread and water are the most important things. I had to make them understand that before they had another life where they had everything and went to school and played. And now they had to learn to live without.” She said.
“I told them it was time for them to grow up.”
A generation of children in Ukraine cannot have a normal childhood at this time. The UN estimates that around 5.2 million of the country’s 7.8 million children are homeless.
With fierce fighting in the south and east of the country and renewed bombing raids in Lviv and Kyiv, no part of Ukraine seems safe at the moment.
It is unclear when the children of this country will be able to return to the life that was suddenly interrupted.