Over the past two years, children living on the front lines in Ukraine have been forced to spend 3,000 to 5,000 hours, or 4 to 7 months, in basements or subway stations during air raids due to the war, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement marking the second anniversary of the full-scale invasion.
According to UNICEF, since the start of the full-scale war in February 2022, airstrikes have triggered about 3,500 cases in Zaporizhia and Kharkiv regions and almost 6,200 cases in Donetsk region.
Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, stressed that the constant shelling leaves children in Ukraine with little chance to recover from the suffering and trauma of the war. Every sound of explosions brings even more stress. According to her, education gives children a sense of hope and stability, but many Ukrainian schoolchildren have problems accessing it or are unable to receive an education at all because of the war.
According to UNICEF, half of children aged 13-15 face psychological consequences of the war, such as sleep problems and post-traumatic stress disorder. The organization highlights that 40% of children across Ukraine and half of children in frontline areas have difficulty accessing education due to inadequate conditions.
In the two years since the start of the war, UNICEF has stepped up its work in Ukraine, providing humanitarian assistance and support to children and their families in different regions of the country. The main goal of the fund's activities is to ensure children have access to education, health care, protection and psychosocial support.
Today marks two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began with the arrival of the first column of Russian tanks in Luhansk Oblast at around 3:40 a.m., as well as missile attacks on Ukrainian territory.
