Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska shares Mother’s Day message for children affected by war

"How do you feel that your sons are slaughtering our children?"

First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, has written a heartfelt open letter for Mother's Day asking people to think of the impact the Russian invasion is having on Ukrainian children. She opens the letter by remembering some of the children who have died as a direct result of the war, saying that their "names must not become statistics". She writes:

"We understood in the first days of the war that Russia was killing civilians. The fact that Russia is doing this so cynically and consciously is still shocking. It is now safer for our children to be born in bomb shelters than in hospitals. After all, Russia is bombing maternity hospitals.

"You have probably seen the photos of a bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol and the bloodied women who were victims of that attack.

"Since the beginning of the war, 15,000 Ukrainian children have been born. Imagine — 15,000 children do not know what peace is. And instead of a peaceful sky they see the concrete ceiling of a dark basement." She goes on to say that there are many children who, in addition to facing the horrors of this war, also have to deal with serious illnesses. After her appeals for help, Ukraine has began to evacuate children with terminal illnesses or other serious health conditions to safety in Western Europe.

"Half of Ukrainian children have become ‘internationally displaced persons’ due to the war. You will now see many of those children in your country — children with adult eyes, because they have seen death.

"If you see such children and such mothers, whose fathers remain here to defend the country, please help them to become warm again. Show them that there are safe places and decent people in the world: people who do not rejoice in someone else’s pain."

She concludes with a direct message for Russian mothers: "I have asked Russia’s mothers: how do you feel that your sons are killing our children? That they throw bombs at them, shred them with mortars? No mother would wish for her child to be a child-murderer. Not even for the generous rewards promised by Putin.

"But so far I have heard only a deafening silence from Russia’s mothers. Are they intimidated or indifferent? I don’t even want to imagine, because I don’t know which is worse.

"When people in Russia say that their troops are not hurting the civilian population, I ask you to show them the pictures of the children snatched from us.

"Show them the faces of Ukrainians who, having barely begun to breathe, have cruelly been denied the chance to grow up.

"How many more children must die to convince Russian troops to stop firing? How many more children must be killed by Russian soldiers before their mothers march against this war?"