It comes after women and children were found raped, murdered and set afire in the city of Bucha
Parents in Ukraine are heartbreakingly writing their family’s contact details on their children’s clothes and bodies so they can be rescued if they are killed during the Russian invasion.
The desperate measure comes as authorities continue to unearth the horrors left in the wake of Russia’s siege, with bodies littered across streets and piled in mass graves in what Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has labelled a “genocide”.
Authorities estimate that 1,232 Ukrainian civilians have so far been killed and 1,935 wounded, though the death toll is expected to be much higher. Unicef has documented the deaths of more than 100 children and some 1300 servicemen are said to have been killed since the invasion began on February 24 displacing Ten million people. Around four million Ukrainians have fled to neighbouring countries and an estimated 6.5 million are displaced inside the worn-torn country
Parents are now resorting to the most practical measures to protect their children, as shown in a picture posted to Twitter by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. It shows contact details scrawled on a toddler’s back.
He said: “Ukrainian mothers write their family’s contacts on children’s bodies in case they get killed and the child survives. I don’t really know how to endure this anymore.”
Ukrainian mothers write their family's contacts on children's bodies in case they get killed and the child survives.
I don’t really know how to endure this anymore.#GenocideOfUkrainians #UkraineRussiaWar #StopPutinNOW pic.twitter.com/w6BoWJjQb6
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) April 4, 2022
Kyiv Independent journalist Anastasiia Lapatina shared the same image and ended her posts by stating: “And Europe is still discussing gas.”
The photo was originally posted by the girl’s mother on Instagram. An extract of her caption closely translates to: “in case something happens, someone would welcome her as a survivor”.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cbz_4zBtewq/
Responding to the image on Twitter, another Ukrainian dad shared images of his child’s clothes covered in contact details. In the caption, he said: “My 5-year-old daughter wearing this t-shirt while Europe [is] thinking about Russian oil, gas, and money.”
The story comes after another horrifying image shared by a Ukrainian MP appeared to show a murdered woman with a swastika branded across her body in Ukraine. Lesia Vasylenko, a member of the liberal Holos party in Ukraine, posted the image on Twitter, saying it was the “tortured body of a raped and killed woman.
Vasylenko claimed that girls as young as 10 had been raped by Russian soldiers, labelling the country as a “nation of immoral criminals.”
Tragically, these harrowing stories are not becoming any less common as the war enters its sixth week.
https://twitter.com/BowenBBC/status/1510525340078252033?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1510525340078252033%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joe.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fwoman-raped-and-killed-by-russian-troops-who-branded-her-corpse-with-swastika-327708
After Ukraine’s military was able to push Russian troops out of areas surrounding Kyiv, such as Bucha and Irpin, unspeakable horrors were uncovered.
Bodies of women and children were found raped and set afire in the city of Bucha and men have been tortured and executed – their bodies left in the streets with their hands tied behind their backs.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visits Bucha, the scene of Russian army atrocities against Ukrainian civilians. His face says it all. pic.twitter.com/o2wZx3Tnqj
— Euan MacDonald (@Euan_MacDonald) April 4, 2022
Boris Johnson has since promised funding and support to the International Criminal Court at The Hague to compile evidence for a war crimes tribunal.
“We will not rest until justice is served,” he said.
Prime Minister @BorisJohnson's statement on Russia’s despicable attacks against innocent civilians in Irpin and Bucha.https://t.co/Rikh4DCXMy pic.twitter.com/RUZ8t82DOH
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) April 3, 2022
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