Vinnytsia is a city in central Ukraine, located 200 km from the capital, far from
the front line and from the borders with Belarus or the Russian Federation. In
the summer of 2022, this regional center seemed relatively safe, compared to
other cities of Ukraine that were subject to shelling and missile strikes, such as
Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, or Kyiv.
Only strategic objects were attacked in Vinnytsia region until July. On February
24, 2022, at around 08:00 a.m., the Russians attacked military units and
ammunition depots in the towns of Kalynivka and Tulchyn as well as in the
village of Bohonyki. On February 25, 2022, the airfield in Kalynivka was
shelled. On March 6, 2022, Russian troops launched missile strikes at Vinnytsia
International Airport. On March 16, 2022, Russians shelled the Vinnytsia
television tower. On March 25, 2022, Russian troops launched an airstrike on
the command center of the Air Force of Ukraine, which is located in Vinnytsia.
Since the end of March, shelling of civilian objects in the city had not been
recorded.
This was the city Liza began to live in together with her mother and
grandmother. She continued working with a speech therapist, conscientiously
attended the classes 4 times a week. The brave girl even visited her father in
Kyiv at the end of May and then returned to Vinnytsia. The well-known photos

of mother and daughter from a lavender field in the Vinnytsia region were also
taken during the full-scale war, in early July 2022. Thus, Liza's life and struggle
continued far from home despite the Russian aggression.

Iryna is taken to the hospital in critical condition, where she stays for another
month. The farewell ceremony with Liza is held on July 17, 2022, in the
Transfiguration Cathedral; her mother is not present. Hundreds of city residents,
despite the threat of Russian shelling, carry flowers and toys. Two violinists
play «Chervona kalyna» at the city cemetery; the girl loved the sound of violin. On July 14, 2022, the Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor's Office begins a pre-trial
investigation in criminal proceedings on the facts of violation of the laws and
customs of war, in combination with intentional murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of
the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The attack on Vinnytsia and killing of civilians, including children, receives a
wide international response. On the same day, UN Secretary-General António

Guterres once again condemns attacks on the civilian population and civil
infrastructure, and calls for accountability for such violations.
For Russia, serious violations against children on the territory of Ukraine have
become a daily practice. The aggressor state deprives them of their childhood,
and often of the life itself.
On March 7, 2022, after 11 p.m., the Russian Federation carried out an airstrike
with 500-kilogram bombs on residential buildings on Romenska and Spartaka
streets. 18 people died there, including 4 children: 9-year-old Vadim Ivlev and
Priymenko brothers, who were 5, 11 and 16 years old.
On April 8, 2022, the Russians fired at the Kramatorsk railway station with an
Iskander-type missile containing cluster munitions. There were mostly women
with children waiting for the evacuation train. Nine children died, 23 were
injured. An 11-year-old girl and her mother lost their legs.
On January 14, 2023, the Russians shelled the city of Dnipro. As a result, a part
of a multi-story building was destroyed. Six children died, the youngest was not
even a year old. 10 children were injured.
These are some of the instances of the mass crime committed by the Russian
Federation against Ukraine. The monthly dynamics of the facts of murder and
injury of children recorded by juvenile prosecutors for the first six months since
the beginning of the full-scale invasion show that more than 100 children are
injured and killed every month. Every day Russian soldiers kill and injure four
children.
In addition, the Russian Federation commits other serious violations against
children in Ukraine. These include rape and other forms of sexual violence
against children, attacks on schools, hospitals, and protected persons associated
with them, kidnaping of children and denial of access to humanitarian aid,
recruitment or use of children in armed forces and groups. Ukrainian children
under occupation have limited access to quality education, suffer from poverty,
are involved in military operations, and are subjected to violence.