​Since its 2022 establishment, the Donbas Children’s Remembrance Day has spread nationally and even gained momentum beyond Russia’s borders. In a typical memorial service, like the one in Syktyvar, participants read names of child victims of the war. Although the attitudes of interviewees attending the Syktyvar memorial express great sympathy for child victims of Russia’s War on Ukraine, they, not surprisingly, cannot acknowledge Russia’s role as an aggressor. Kirill Cheusov, a veteran of Russia’s war on Ukraine, said simply of the children, "They are martyrs; they all suffer.” ​Following a reading of the children’s names and ages, attendees set flowers and toys at the foot of a teachers' monument.