Two children who attended the Halloween celebration at the White House on Wednesday sparked a wave of international outrage by appearing in costumes, with the boy dressed in a Russian-Soviet style camouflage military uniform and the girl in traditional Russian attire, amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
The images, captured by the EPA agency and distributed by Reuters during the event in the South Lawn of the White House, show a boy wearing a cap with an emblem similar to the USSR coat of arms and a badge associated with tank troops, and a girl in a floral-patterned sarafan in black, red, and white, a white blouse, and a kokoshnik headdress.
In the photographs, Donald Trump is seen handing out chocolates to the children, while Melania Trump briefly touches the child's cap.
The event gathered around 6,000 people, including families of military personnel, law enforcement officers, foster families, and public employees, according to a report by the White House. Among the costumes present were also characters from Barbie, Toy Story, dinosaurs, and Uncle Sam, but it was the two children dressed in outfits resonating with Russian and Soviet themes that drew the most attention.
The photographs went viral on Thursday and sparked an immediate reaction among users from Ukraine and Eastern European countries. The identity of the minors has not been confirmed by any verifiable source.
The controversy takes on a particularly painful dimension given the context of the conflict, which in October 2026 surpasses four and a half years since the large-scale invasion that began on February 24, 2022.
According to a report from the UN published in August 2026, at least 835 Ukrainian children have died and more than 3,126 have been injured since the onset of the invasion—figures that the organization itself acknowledges as verified minimums, with the actual number likely being higher.
July 2026 was the deadliest month for Ukrainian children since April 2022, with 17 children killed and 166 injured in just four weeks.
This tragedy is compounded by international condemnation over the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. Ukraine has documented around 20,000 cases; the UN verified 1,205 and classified the practice as a war crime and a crime against humanity.
Only 2,665 minors had returned as of October 7, 2026, according to the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for these crimes.
In December 2025, the UN General Assembly demanded the immediate return of deported children from Russia with 91 votes in favor. The Cuban regime voted against this resolution.
Soviet symbols are actively used by Russian forces in the war as part of their official narrative, which has turned the images of the White House into a particularly painful symbol for those who have been documenting the suffering of the Ukrainian civilian population for years.
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