CALL TO PROTECT CIVILIANS IN UKRAINE AFTER 2 CHILDREN REPORTED KILLED AND MANY INJURED IN WEEKEND OF ATTACKS

Yuliia* (42) gave birth to her daughter, Tetiana* (2) in between air raid alerts in Ukraine a month after full-scale war broke out in February 2022. As soon as Tetiana was born, the alerts started again, and Yuliia was moved to a corridor in the hospital with her newborn and listened as the rockets flew overhead. Yuliia said she felt a lot of fear and anxiety not knowing what the next 24 hours would bring. Now, after 1,000 days of war, Yuliia and her daughters – Tetiana, Anna* (9) and Oksana* (5) – sleep in the corridor of their home each night, monitoring for attacks on their city in the Zaporizhzhia region, which is now very close to the front line of the war in Eastern Ukraine. A rocket recently hit 10-15 metres away from their home. Luckily, a wall saved their apartment block from shrapnel damage. Yuliia says the war has impacted on her children. When Tetiana – who has only ever known war in her short life – hears someone slam a door, she says: “there’s an explosion, let’s go to the shelter!” Anna, who has also only ever known war as she was born in 2014 when conflict first erupted in far eastern Ukraine, told her mother that she’s scared a rocket will hit their home. Yuliia’s children attend one of these Child Friendly Spaces, and she said it’s made a huge difference to her daughters’ wellbeing. She says when she’s watching her children in the space, she can tell how they forget about the war for a few hours and just be happy. Yuliia also attended positive parenting sessions organised by Save the Children’s partner. She says the mental health and psychosocial support activities during the sessions have helped her a lot, and she can better communicate with her children in times of stress. Sacha Myers / Save the Children

When Sofiya* (13) fled her home in Kherson in southern Ukraine, she could only take a few t-shirts and a pair of shorts in a small backpack she shared with her mother, Nataliia* (44). They had lived under occupation for five months and had the chance to leave but could take basically nothing of their former lives with them. They were also leaving behind Sofiya’s father, who needed to stay in Kherson for work. Sofiya and Nataliia were displaced to the Zaporizhzhia region in eastern Ukraine. When Kherson was de-occupied, they returned to the city and their home. But the bombardments were too intense in Kherson, and Nataliia made the difficult decision to leave her home again with Sofiya to keep her safe. Nataliia and Sofiya now live in the Mykolaiv region in a rented house they share with Sofiya’s grandmother, Oksana*. When the Kakhovka dam was destroyed in June 2023, Nataliia and Sofiya’s home in Kherson was completely flooded and destroyed. The water almost covered the entire roof of their home. Nataliia says as a mother in Ukraine you need to be very brave – she says it’s also incredibly difficult to watch your children grow up so quickly due to the war. Nataliia is worried about the upcoming winter because the house they rent is only connected to electricity and means they will have no way to heat it when the power blackouts start across the country. Electricity is also very expensive, and she’s not sure how she’s going afford to keep the house warm. As a freezing winter intensifies in Ukraine, the risks for children are immense. The war has severely impacted energy infrastructure and it’s predicated that families may face up to 20 hours a day without power, threatening their health and wellbeing, access to education and ability to keep warm. Some children are also living in homes damaged by shelling, potentially leaving them exposed to sub-zero temperatures, and health risks such as hypothermia. Save the Children’s support Nataliia and Sofiya’s rented house has a large hole in the roof where it was damaged by shelling. They say when it rains that water leaks through all the light fittings and that they need to place buckets everywhere. Save the Children has provided the family with cash assistance to repair their roof as soon as possible. Sacha Myers / Save the Children