MOSCOW, July 27. /TASS/. Most of the Ukrainian armed forces’ war crimes as a result of which children in Donbass were killed, were committed with weapons supplied to Kiev by Western countries, Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs and former Foreign Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Natalia Nikonorova said at a memorial event for children who fell victim to the war in Donbass.

"The West, unfortunately, completely ignores this neo-Nazi essence (of Kiev - TASS) and, moreover, intentionally provides it with weapons. And most of the crimes described here today were committed with Western weapons. Therefore, they are direct accomplices in these criminal acts," Nikonorova said during the memorial event.

The Federation Council member compared the brutality of the Ukrainian armed forces to that of German Nazi soldiers during WWII. She noted that the Ukrainian armed forces deliberately attacked civilians, specifically by mining civilian infrastructure in Donbass with antipersonnel mines prohibited by international conventions, and by striking children and their parents, as well as educational institutions, such as a college in Starobelsk in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR).

According to the DPR government office for documenting war crimes of Ukraine, 257 children have been killed in the republic as a result of Ukrainian aggression since 2014.

Day of Remembrance for Child Victims of the War in Donbass is observed annually on July 27. The date was established by a decree of the DPR head in 2022. The Ukrainian armed forces launched a massive attack on Gorlovka n July 27, 2014, killing 22 people. Kristina Zhuk, 23, who was holding her 10-month-old daughter, Kira, were killed in the attack. The mother with child became known as the "Gorlovka Madonna," and residents of Donetsk later referred to the day of the tragedy as "bloody Sunday.".