Russia Killed Them: Stories of Children Who Will Never Turn 10 Years Old

With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the ABO media development agency created the project "Memorial: Killed by Russia." The Memorial preserves the names of civilians and military personnel who died as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "We created this memorial so that you can learn about everyone who was killed by the Russian army," the media say. "Svidomi" in collaboration with "Memorial: Killed by Russia," tells about children under the age of 10 who died because of the war.

Five-month-old Mykhailo Korostylov died on May 26 as a result of the Russian shelling of Kharkiv.

That day, the boy's father Mykola came with his son to pick up his wife Oleksandra from work. The woman was finishing her workday at a beauty salon, where she had recently been employed as an administrator. When Mykola and the baby entered the salon, the missile flew into the second floor of the building. The boy and his father died, Oleksandra survived; the woman was taken to the hospital.

"I was trapped under the rubble, I fell to my knees. I removed the debris and came back to them. I saw a black body, Mykola was completely black. Just a T-shirt and blood in his mouth. He was choking on it. Where is Myshko, where is my son? I don't see him, he isn't crying, he's gone," Oleksandra said.

The boy was born on December 30, less than two months before the start of a full-scale war. His parents volunteered but eventually decided to leave for a safer region. The family returned to Kharkiv after May 9. They believed that the city had become safer.

7-year-old Maksym died on July 14 as a result of a Russian missile attack on the center of Vinnytsia.

That day, the boy and his mother came from the village of Mala Mochulka for a medical examination. They were in the clinic at the time of the shelling. Relatives and friends spent a whole day looking for Maksym and his mother. But the miracle did not happen.

"At the time of the rocket attack, which was carried out by these savages, the rashists, at the Neuromed clinic, Vika and her son Maksym were inside. The rashists took the lives of a wonderful doctor, a wonderful mother, a beautiful person, and her son Maksym," wrote the community of their village.

4-year-old Liza Dmitriieva died during the same airstrike on Vinnytsia on July 14. At the time of the shelling, the girl and her mother were returning from developmental lessons.

"They were just leaving a developmental speech therapy class and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time," said the Down Syndrome charity, with which the girl's family cooperated.

The girl's mother, Iryna, received serious injuries and was taken to the intensive care unit.

Iryna is from Vinnytsia but lived in Kyiv before the war. On her Instagram, she often talked about motherhood and the experience of raising Lisa, a girl with Down syndrome.

 "Lisa was a special and most beloved daughter. The only and wanted one," said a family friend.

Kyrylo was in the car at the time of the explosion. Together with his uncle, he was waiting for his grandmother, who went to the PryvatBank office. After the explosion, the boy was trapped in a fire. Kyrylo's uncle was thrown back by the explosive wave. The grandmother was not injured.

They searched for Kyrylo for over a day and could not find him. The boy's mother Marianna submitted a DNA sample. After that, on July 15, the relatives were informed that the body had been identified.

At the end of April, Kyrylo came to Vinnytsia from Kherson together with his mother.

On the night of June 28, a Russian missile killed eight-year-old Yeva Smulska in Ochakiv. The girl was sleeping at home with her family.

Yeva was with her mother and sisters the night before. They were singing, dancing, doing some housework. They were enjoying life. Tired, everyone fell asleep quickly.

At night, their home was destroyed by a Russian missile. Yeva was killed. Her body was found by the rescuers.

The girl had her whole life ahead of her: she could become an artist because she had been fond of drawing for the last year. She could have dozens of friends at her new school. She could help her mother hundreds of times because she loved to help with the household.

"I knew where she was sleeping, and I saw where the missile exploded. It was very clear. Yeva was a special child. She was my copycat. She repeated everything after me, no matter what I was interested in. None of my daughters had such an attachment," said Marharyta, the girl's mother.