Pockets of joy for Ukrainian children in times of war

With her bright yellow and blue braids - colours of the Ukrainian flag - 7-year-old Anastasiia is excited to be joining an outdoor activity for displaced children in Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, organized by UNHCR’s local partner Proliska.
Her mother, Nelia, is relieved to see her daughter smiling and laughing again after the many challenges the child has gone through growing up in a war.
The family fled to Kharkiv from the town of Kupiansk which was under the temporary Military Control of the Russian Federation until September 2022. Those months spent in the epicentre of hostilities took a devastating toll on Anastasiia’s mental health.
“It will never stop hurting me that my daughter had to go through all this. We had been hiding in the cellar for two months, it was exactly the day of her birthday when she was turning six. We were preparing a cake for her in a shelter. I saw her psychological condition was deteriorating. My child started stammering and her teeth started falling out from the stress of the situation. Even now, sometimes she keeps having nightmares and wakes up crying from time to time,” Nelia says.
When the Government of Ukraine regained control over Kupiansk, Nelia, her husband and their daughter could finally evacuate to safer areas. They had to pack quickly taking only a few personal belongings.

“One day, I was walking along the street on my way home, and I saw volunteers announcing that there would be a bus available for those wishing to evacuate. The decision came immediately - we had only 20 minutes to take just some of our things, before we boarded the bus,” Nelia recalls.
While Kharkiv city, where the family now lives, is still often shelled, the family feels safer here as intensified fighting continue uprooting civilians from Kupiansk and its surroundings. They found temporary accommodation in one of the collective centres for people who were forced to flee their homes. At their new place, they had to start from scratch – registering as internally displaced people to receive state benefits. It took several months before Nelia and her husband found employment.
Proliska supported the displaced family with non-food items and hygiene kits and also provided psychosocial assistance helping to recover and process this traumatizing experience.
For Anastasiia, she is looking forward to September when she will start school. Seeing her daughter healing and finding joy again is a heart-lifting moment for Nelia who strives to return normalcy to the little girl’s childhood.
“My daughter is the most precious thing in my life. When we evacuated, finally, I felt relieved, knowing that it was the right thing to do. Once, my daughter watched a film, and she saw the Eiffel Tower. She told me about her dream of seeing it. And I promised her that we would take her to Paris when the war is over. She will see the Eiffel Tower. This dream of hers motivates me not to give up, and to keep looking forward to the future,” Nelia smiles.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 23 per cent of the 17.6 million people who require humanitarian assistance in Ukraine is younger than 18 years old. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, jointly with its local NGO partners is supporting families with children in Ukraine by providing relief and hygiene items, clothes, cash, winterization assistance, protection services and psychosocial support and aims to reach 3.6 million people in 2023., From January to May 2023, almost 300,000 services were provided to children in Ukraine.
Through its community-based protection activities UNHCR is engaging children, families, and communities to identify at-risk children and families, connecting them to state and humanitarian services and supports that will restore normalcy and routine, strengthen their resilience and support them in rebuilding their lives and minimizing the adverse effects of the war and displacement.