Shattered Childhoods as the War in Ukraine Persists

Shattered Childhoods: Over the past two years, children in cities located in Ukraine’s frontline areas have endured a harrowing reality, spending between 3,000 to 5,000 hours seeking refuge in basements and underground metro stations, reports UNICEF.

The incessant wails of air raid alerts have become a grim soundtrack to their lives, marking the escalation of conflict since February 2022.

The toll on their mental health has been severe, with approximately 3,500 air raid alerts in the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions and nearly 6,200 in Donetsk, leaving a devastating impact on children’s psychological well-being and their capacity to engage in learning effectively.

Winter exacerbates the situation, as the escalation of attacks often deprives families of basic necessities such as heating, water, and electricity, leaving children to endure the cold and dampness of underground shelters.

UNICEF’s Executive Director, Catherine Russell, aptly summaries the grim reality, stating, “The war in Ukraine has shattered childhoods and wreaked havoc on children’s mental health and ability to learn.”

The psychological toll of the conflict is widespread among children, with half of 13- to 15-year-olds experiencing sleep disturbances and one in five grappling with intrusive thoughts and flashbacks, indicative of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Alarmingly, three-quarters of children and young people aged 14 to 34 express a need for emotional or psychological support, yet less than a third seek assistance.

Parents, too, are grappling with elevated levels of anxiety, fear, and sadness among their children, compounded by challenges in providing adequate support amidst the chaos of conflict.

The repercussions are evident in decreased engagement in school, heightened sensitivity to loud noises, and disrupted sleep patterns.

The education sector bears the brunt of the conflict, with 40 per cent of Ukraine’s children unable to access continuous education due to a lack of facilities.

In frontline areas, this figure rises to half of all school-age children. The learning deficits are stark, with data revealing a two-year loss in reading and a one-year loss in maths compared to pre-war levels.

Main Image: By Mirek Pruchnicki from Przemyśl, Sanok, Polska – Ukrainian children are fleeing Russian aggression. Przemyśl, Poland 27/02/2022, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115724796

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Read also: Putin’s war crimes: “we must bring the defeat of evil closer, and we are bringing it closer,” says Volodymyr Zelensky

“They hit a house, an apartment building. Three people were inside. A man, a woman and a child – a girl, her name was Iryna, she would have turned 11 this year. She died. The man died too. My condolences… The woman is in critical condition, in the hospital, she is being provided with medical care.”

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