Eight-year-old Lisa Shtanko, one of the few children left behind in a city hard hit by the Russian invasion, stood on the side of a muddy road and watched Ukrainian soldiers drive by. There was almost no heating or electricity. Most of his friends were long gone. And that very morning there had been an attack on Lisa’s front door. “Today I’m not in a good mood because of the bombing,” he told AFP as his father, Viktor Shtanko, watched. Children living on the front lines of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must learn to cope with unrelenting stress, with experts warning of long-term disruption.
Shtanko’s hometown of Lyman endured four months of Russian occupation, leaving most of it in ruins and turning the surrounding forests into minefields. Ukrainian forces regained control of Lyman in October, but fighting continues nearby. “Of course she’s scared,” says Viktor, a 42-year-old electrician. “There is nothing scarier than death lurking.” But she is fine with her father.
New Year’s Eve and the upcoming Orthodox Christmas holiday on January 7 may provide some distractions from the war, but the only toys Viktor can give away are donated by a humanitarian group. These hardships have prompted most families with children to leave, and many have “no reason to return,” says Kostya Korovkin, father of 6-year-old Nastya.
Kostya told AFP he has nowhere else to go, meaning Nastya is forced to spend long days in the basement of the building, occasionally wandering the streets where only stray dogs roam. Sometimes he goes to the sixth floor, the only place where he can get an internet connection and watch online classes.
In front of the entrance to the building, someone put up a small Christmas tree and put candies on the branches. “But,” said Kostya, “there are no more children to take them in.”
Without thinking about the future
While there is no longer active fighting in Lyman, other cities in the Donetsk region are still facing war. Bakhmut, where President Volodymyr Zelensky made a daring surprise visit last week, has been ravaged by a months-long Russian assault that shows no sign of abating.
At the back of a basement where 20 people have been sheltering for eight months, 14-year-old Gleb Petrov greets visitors with a firm handshake and a serious look on his face. He is the only minor who lives in the basement, where he spends his days sleeping late, caring for the elderly and a black kitten, who has also taken up residence there. Sometimes he draws, tries to read adult books or, if there is electricity, plays on his mobile phone.
“I don’t think about the future,” he told AFP. “I don’t even know what’s going to happen in an hour or a day.” As the sound of explosions echoed outside, Gleb said he had learned to recognize the difference between fire coming in and fire going out. When asked about his biggest dream, he replied that he just wanted to “go for a walk with a friend”.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of children remain in Bakhmut, their parents either unable or unwilling to leave. “These kids are grown up,” said Katherine Soldatova, a volunteer with an association that has set up a shelter in the basement of a school. The heated room has a Christmas tree and a television. “Anything so they can feel a little bit safe,” Soldatova said.
Access to the bomb shelter can be extremely dangerous: not long ago, two civilians were killed on their way there. But it has become an essential routine for kids like 12-year-old Volodymyr, who told AFP he usually only goes out to go home to eat.
Bakhmut’s children were in a state of “permanent insecurity,” psychologist Alyona Lukyanchuk noted. “The world can betray you at any moment, everything can be destroyed in the blink of an eye,” said Lukyanchuk, who works for the Ukrainian branch of the NGO SOS Children’s Villages.
With “survival-oriented” parents, children must learn to deal with the constant stress that “affects concentration.” [e] cognitive resources,” and can lead to long-term disorders, she said.
Still, the psychologist tries to remain “a little optimistic” and refuses to accept the hypothesis that these children will form a so-called lost generation. “There is no safe place in Ukraine, but only a small percentage of children live on the front lines,” said Lukyanchuk. “They will have to be checked, but I’m sure many will find resources.”
Source: DN
