Children’s shoes lit by candles at Manitoba Legislature honour youngest victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine

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Hundreds of children’s shoes lined the steps of the Manitoba Legislature on Thursday during a sombre ceremony where families gathered to honour the lives of children who have died in Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

“We can’t pronounce every name of children dying in Ukraine, but we can stay here, pray and just hope the war ends,” said Oksana Khuytsia, a Ukrainian mother who attended the event.

Artificial candles lit up 750 pairs of children’s shoes on the stairs to the front entrance of the legislature in Winnipeg to remember the youngest victims of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“It’s just very painful. It is very hard to think about that. Each parent, each mom and each dad, I think, feels the same when they think about the killed children — they are thinking about their own children,” said Mila Shykota, one of the event organizers.

Two people stand in the steps of a building lit up with candles. — The sombre ceremony was also held to remind people of the painful consequences of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, an organizer of the event says. (Alana Cole/CBC)

The event was held to coincide with World Children’s Day, observed on Nov. 20 to mark the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Shykota said the memorial was put together in hopes the lives of children killed in the war are not forgotten.

It was also meant to be a reminder of the painful consequences of Russia’s aggression in the country.

A number of children shoes are lit up with candles at the steps of a building. — Ukraine’s interior minister says three children died in a recent Russian attack in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil. Their lives and those of other children who have died in the war were remembered at Thursday’s event. (CBC)

At least 669 children died in Ukraine’s controlled and occupied territory between February 2022 and December 2024, the United Nations says.

Many of them lost their lives due to the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

The UN believes the number of children that have been killed is likely much higher than the officially confirmed fatalities.

Recently, three children were among 26 people who were killed in a Russian drone and missile attack that hit apartment buildings in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, Ukraine’s interior minister said on Wednesday.

“These numbers are not [only] numbers. This is what is happening every single day,” Shykota said. “I’d like people to remember that.”