On the night of 18 May, four-year-old Mark Ifiemenko was at home with his parents in Vasylkiv, a small town near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. As the sounds of explosions reverberated close to their two-storey home, Mark\u2019s mother rushed him downstairs, along with his grandparents.<\/p>\n
Later it would emerge that overnight, Russia had launched one of the largest attacks<\/a> on Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, with reports of more than 270 drones and missiles<\/a> entering the country\u2019s airspace.<\/p>\n Mark and his family hid in a room they believed was the safest, removed by at least two walls from the exterior of the house \u2013 a rule Ukrainians have learned to stay alive. Meanwhile, his father, Sergey, rushed to the kitchen to turn off the gas main. As he did so a Shahed drone \u2013 the size of a small car \u2013 hit their house.<\/p>\n I saw I was standing over my wife\u2019s body \u2026 Even in death, she was curled protectively around Mark<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sergey Ifiemenko<\/p>\n \u201cThere was smoke and dust everywhere, I couldn\u2019t even breathe. I started calling out to them [his family] and ran to the room they were in,\u201d says Sergey, 31, who had returned from service on the frontline the previous week.<\/p>\n \u201cI first saw my father and mother, they were injured. I asked my mother where Anna [his wife] and Mark were to which she replied Anna was no longer with us. I was holding a flashlight and when I pointed it down, I saw I was standing over my wife\u2019s body \u2026 a fragment of the drone had pierced her head. Still, even in death, she was curled protectively around Mark, who was crying,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Soon after rescuing him from his mother\u2019s dying embrace, Sergey rushed Mark, amid ongoing attacks, to the house of a nearby relative and returned to help his parents. The next morning Mark was transported to Ohmatdyt children\u2019s hospital in Kyiv where he spent 10 days in the intensive care unit, most of it in a coma.<\/p>\n Four-year-old Mark Ifiemenko suffered a fractured skull, crushed nose and was blinded in one eye in a drone attack that also killed his mother. Photograph: Courtesy of Sergey Ifiemenko<\/p>\n Mark survived the attack, says Sergey, thanks to his mother\u2019s quick thinking and protection, but he has endured injuries and a trauma that will take many years to heal. He suffered from fractures to his skull, a crushed nose and injuries that have left him blind in one eye.<\/p>\n There has been a significant rise in child casualties in Ukraine in recent months as Russia indiscriminately targets heavily populated civilian areas, with 222 children killed or injured<\/a> between March and May this year and 2,889 in total since the start of the invasion. Given the delay in verifying deaths, the UN says the true number is likely to be much higher.<\/p>\n Ukrainian rights group say Russia\u2019s attacks are not accidental and should be more strongly condemned by international leaders. \u201cUnder international humanitarian law, deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure \u2013 especially schools, hospitals, and places where children gather \u2013 is considered a war crime,\u201d says Daria Kasyanova, chair of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network.<\/p>\n Amnesty says it has<\/a> documented \u201cnumerous instances of Russian forces conducting indiscriminate attacks in Ukraine, resulting in thousands of civilian casualties\u201d and that \u201cindiscriminate strikes that kill or injure civilians constitute war crimes\u201d.<\/p>\n Even if the conflict ends, Ukraine now has one of the highest prevalence of explosive remnants of war and landmines globally, says the UN<\/a>, which are likely to cause continuing casualties among children in particular far into the future.<\/p>\n For children such as Mark who have survived, the injuries \u2013 physical and emotional \u2013 that have been inflicted are life-changing. A Unicef survey earlier this year, estimated at least one in five children<\/a> in Ukraine have experienced a personal loss to the war, whether a sibling, parent or friend.<\/p>\n Sergey says: \u201cHe asks about Mamusya [a Ukrainian term of endearment for mother] and misses her very much. I told him the truth about what happened to her. How much she loved him and how she did everything for him to be happy. I say that she has become his guardian angel.\u201d<\/p>\n As well as regular visits to the hospital to treat his injuries, and more recently to fit a prosthetic eye, Sergey says his son has trouble sleeping, and with his learning and development.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very hard sometimes for him because he\u2019s just a child. He reacts to loud sounds, even flinching at anything that might sound like a drone.\u201d<\/p>\n To mark International Chilren\u2019s Day in Lviv in 2022, stuffed toys were placed on seats in empty yellow school buses to symbolise Ukrainian children killed in the war with Russia. Photograph: Yuriy Dyachyshyn\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n