WASHINGTON — Friday a powerful display near the Washington Monument honored hundreds of children killed in Ukraine during its war with Russia. 600 teddy bears with 600 names on them were laid across the National Mall, each representing an innocent child killed during the war.
Jeff Abrams, with Rescue Ukraine, came from Alabama to bring this to DC.
“We’re here to hopefully send a message to the people in the White House, people in the Capitol building,” said Abrams. “These people have the power to stop this.”
Abrams says he’s traveled to Ukraine for over thirty years as a preacher, but a recent visit to a Ukrainian park changed him.
“There was a bench there that had a teddy bear and flowers,” said Abrams. “There was a girl that had been sitting on that bench two days earlier, her name was Sophia, and she was just 14 years old. She died there.”
Abrams says, from a Russian missile strike.
“Keep reminding people that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” said Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States. “We have to win in Ukraine in order to win everywhere. We have to defend Ukrainian children in order to defend children everywhere.”
Jeff Plaster, one of the organizers, has lived in Ukraine 13 years. The U.S. Army veteran has fought shoulder to shoulder in combat with Ukrainians for a decade.
“As far as I know, I’m the first foreign fighter to fight for Ukraine,” said Plaster. “Within a week I’ll be inside Russia. I’ll be in Kursk Oblast keeping the fight to those guys.”
Protecting his second home and its children, Plaster said thousands of Ukrainian kids have been abducted since the start of the war.
“I can’t even imagine what it would be like for these families to lose children,” said Plaster. “Not just lose their children but know that they’re out there way behind enemy lines, in Russia being indoctrinated and treated like they are Russian children.”
After Friday’s ceremony, most of these teddy bears are headed to Ukraine to help comfort children in orphanages and hospitals.
“This kind of brings it more to our hearts, doesn’t it? When we hear the numbers, the statistics, but when you see that this represents real lives that have been robbed,” said Abrams.
