100 days of Russia-Ukraine conflict: Children of war
India Today
The Russia-Ukraine war, raging on for 100 days now, has destroyed hundreds of buildings, taken thousands of lives and displaced millions of people, especially children.
Nobody wants to see children suffering during a war. Unfortunately, the Russia-Ukraine war has been so unjust and ugly that it has engulfed an entire generation in the war-ravaged country and the Donbas region. When we first arrived in Kyiv from the border town of Lviv, the central station was jam-packed with people, since all railway stations in post-Soviet states doubled up as bomb shelters.
Families sat close to each other to beat the cold, albeit the station had heating. Children running around without a clue as to why they are out when it is way past their bedtime. Some were no longer happy about being displaced from their warm homes and beds.
Many Ukrainians were waiting to take trains to Lviv and then cross over to neighbouring European nations. Weeping children were hugging their fathers and brothers who had to stay to fight the Russians. Male citizens above the age of 18 in Ukraine were not allowed to leave since the country is at war.
This war has scarred an entire generation which had not even seen violence, leave alone a full-blown war. We met young students who were volunteering with the aid centres, a few others who were helping make camouflage nets for the forces, some volunteering at the media centre. But, the younger ones were home and in shelters. Parents didn’t want to risk bringing them out amid bomb sirens. Schools wore an empty, abandoned, a few even bombed, look.
Metro stations were converted into shelters. There was a toddler in a carton with his toys, and throngs of journalists taking photographs from the window of the metro. He smiled at the camera while wondering what was happening.
Another little girl who sat with her dog. When asked what happened, she said, “I am very scared. We hear sounds of bombs everywhere.”
The capital city of Kyiv was relatively untouched. It was when I travelled from Russia to the Donbas region that I saw the real extent of destruction. Mariupol, a key port city which is a part of Donetsk, was in a shambles.
