Wednesday was International Day for Protection of Children in many former Soviet countries -- a joyful celebration typically marked by concerts, outdoor games and arts and crafts. But in Ukraine, it was a Children's Day like no other.
Despite the war, towns and cities across Ukraine still marked the occasion, though it looked different from the usual.
In the western city of Lviv, Mayor Andriy Sadovy posted photos of abandoned school buses, stuffed animals, name tags and backpacks on empty seats, during what Reuters described as an event marking the death of 243 children during the war.
"A school trip that will never happen," Sadovy wrote in a Facebook post, using the hashtag #emptybuses.
"Today, the school buses on Ploshcha Rynok [Lviv's central square] are empty," he wrote, adding that "243 children will never travel to Lviv again."
He accused Russian forces of "killing children, women and civilians."
"They must be held responsible for every life taken. Today, the whole world must unite to stop these terrible crimes," Sadovy wrote.
It was not immediately clear whether Sadovy's figure of 243 referred to children killed in Lviv or more widely in Ukraine.
On Friday, the country will mark the grim milestone of 100 days since the Russian invasion. During that time, at least 262 children have been killed and 415 injured in wartime strikes, according to UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency, which cited confirmed figures that the United Nations acknowledges are incomplete and much lower than the actual tolls.
Ukrainian officials have said there is little cause to celebrate. The war has left 5.2 million children in need of humanitarian assistance, according to UNICEF, and has disrupted children's lives and education.
"This year, Children's Day in Ukraine is celebrated in a different way than usual," Daria Herasymchuk, an adviser to Ukraine's president on children's rights and rehabilitation, said Wednesday, according to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
In Bucha, where Russian forces were accused of committing war crimes during their month-long occupation of the quiet suburb of Kyiv, photos showed children making "embroidered hearts and paper birds for soldiers on the front line," according to the Getty photo service.
On average, the conflict in Ukraine kills at least two children and injures at least four each day, UNICEF and the U.N. agency for refugees said in a news release. It said the casualties occurred "mostly in attacks using explosive weapons in populated areas."
"June 1st is International Day for the Protection of Children in Ukraine and across the region," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in Wednesday's release. "Instead of celebrating the occasion, we are solemnly approaching June 3 -- the 100th day of a war that has shattered the lives of millions of children."
In wartime, children "are forced to hide from the bombing in shelters, in the subway," Herasymchuk said during a news briefing. "They are forced to leave their homes and seek shelter in safe regions."
Meanwhile, soldiers from Ukraine's army posed with drawings and stuffed animals in a video message for Children's Day posted on the Defense Ministry's Twitter account.
"We expect that you know what we do," the soldiers say in the video. "We defend our native country. And ... it is always very important for us to receive support from you, like these kinds of self-made items, pretty drawings and poems. So send them to us. Together, we will pray for our state."
The video then zooms in on some of the drawings, which bear messages such as "Ukraine will be able to do anything" and "The enemy will not pass."
Russell called for "an urgent cease-fire and negotiated peace" to end the war, without which she warned that "children will continue to suffer -- and fallout from the war will impact vulnerable children around the world."
Information for this article was contributed by Annabelle Chapman of The Washington Post.