I am the father of Danylo Nikitsky, a 15-year-old boy who died on April 4, 2025, in Ukraine. Our son was killed near a playground as he was walking with his girlfriend, Alina Kutsenko, 15 years old. We found Danylo holding Alina's hand. They are forever together.

I am addressing you, Donald Trump, on behalf of the nine deceased children and their parents. Perhaps you, the president of the United States, have heard of them. It was nearly 7 pm on that Friday when the terrible tragedy took place in our city of Kryvyi Rih, in the southeast of Ukraine. A Russian ballistic missile strike killed 20 people.

Among them were two cousins, Mykyta and Kostiantyn, 15 and 16 years old, two classmates of my son who were leaving their online literature class and walking with my son and his girlfriend. There were also Rzdyslav and Arina, both seven years old – the little girl was killed with her grandfather. And there was Herman, nine, whose mother ran to the yard after the alarm but didn't have time to bring him home before the missile hit the ground. Finally, there was Mykyta, 17, who was studying at a motor transport high school.

The youngest victim of the russian missile was three years old, Tymofii. He was on the playground, having a beautiful time with friends. That day, he was not wearing his Batman sweatshirt but an orange jacket and black trousers on top of his tiny shoes. Doctors tried to bring him back to life for 15 minutes. We still pray for those children who are in hospitals, hoping that the death toll does not increase.

We would like to address you because the United States has the most powerful economy and the most powerful army in the world. The US produces a lot of goods, including some treasures and technological marvels.

At the time of the death of my only son, my wife and I were at home. My wife and started to call him, but he didn't pick up the phone because he was dead. My son had an iPhone.

My wife and I were driving to the site of the explosion in a Tesla car, which is very fast, breaking all the traffic rules. When we found our son's body, he was wearing Nike sneakers.

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