Ilya was six years old and lived in Donbass, the epicenter of the war in Ukraine. For eleven months, her home was a basement, where she and her parents fled from the bombs. Ilya had lost everything: school, friends, freedom. Fear was her shadow and eventually broke her heart. The cause of death was not a missile, but terrorism, the Ukrainian embassy at the Holy See announced two days ago.
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THE DREAM
A pink stuffed animal lay beside the little girl’s body, her comfort in the dark nights. In the cold, without light, with the sound of explosions coming closer. Not all families escape and it is children who bear the deepest marks of suffering.
Khrystyna, 8, lives in a town in Kyiv Oblast, and her mother Oksana says her daughter’s hair has turned gray from the trauma she suffered from the bombings. Between February 24 and August 10, at least 942 children were killed or injured, an average of five a day, with 356 children losing their lives and 586 injured, according to Save the Children. 16% of the minor victims were under 5 years old. In November, the number of dead and injured rose to 1,170, but according to the UN this is underestimated.
Dana, 29, and her daughter Antonina, 2, fled Kharkiv in March at the height of attacks on the city before they too took shelter in basements. “Antonina heard the explosions and was afraid she couldn’t sleep. When the same thing happens here, he gets scared and asks: “Something has broken out, Mom. What exploded?'”», is Dana’s story, collected by the organization that protects the rights of children and young people. “I can’t explain to a two-year-old that there’s a war and their peers are dying,” Dana muses. So he lies, he assures her that the roar he hears is thunder. However, this tactic does not work with older grandchildren who know what is happening. “You ask a lot of questions.
The nine-year-old asked me, “Am I going to die too?” His parents struggle to find the right words to answer him. The little ones look to the big ones for relief and hope for the future: “My five-year-old granddaughter asks: ‘When I grow up, do I still have to run straight to the exit when the siren sounds?'” . Natalia, Psychologist at Emergency, is part of the group welcoming refugees in Balti, Moldova. Explain that more and more parents are asking for help for their children. They have lived and internalized the experience of war and the uncertainty of fleeing, many are overcome by fear, panic and constant stress. “They feel in constant danger after detachment from the family and the social group, without reference points anymore,” notes Natalia.
UNDER THE CHAIRS
When they arrive in Balti, for the first few days they sit on a chair without moving or speaking, as they did in the bunkers where they took shelter. Your favorite game is hiding under tables. “The same technology that allows you to keep in touch with loved ones is also a major source of concern: everyone, even teenagers, has an application installed on their smartphone that warns of air raid sirens in Ukrainian cities. This keeps them in constant concern because they don’t know the extent of the alarm.”
The Russians have carried out over 700 attacks on health infrastructure, often making it impossible to treat the remaining children. How Davyd, 4 years old, was diagnosed with cancer just before the outbreak of war. The bombs interrupted his chemotherapy, his parents took him to Italy, but it was too late. He died three days ago in the Belluno hospital.
Her name is Elya, she is 6 years old and has been living in Avdiivka🇺🇦 for 11 months, 5 km from the front line. She hid in the basement with her family most of the time for fear of bombing 🇷🇺. She died of a heart attack last night pic.twitter.com/D3SzWh1nbt
— UKR Emb to HOLY SEAT and SMOM (@UKRinVAT) January 12, 2023