Anhelina (6), who is traumatized and suffers panic attacks after having to flee her village, lies in bed in her new home, in Borshchivka, Ukraine.
Ongoing conflict in their home village near Kupiansk (a frontline city in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) forced Anhelina’s family to seek refuge. She now lives with her grandmother, Larisa, in Borshchivka, 95 kilometers from Kupiansk, while her mother lives and works in Kharkiv, about an hour’s journey away. Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, comes under repeated attacks from glide bombs fired by Russian planes but remains beyond the range of Russian artillery.
As Ukraine enters the third year of full scale war with Russia, the psychological toll on civilians, notably on children, is becoming more visible. Children have seen death or suffering of their loved ones, suffered physically themselves, and faced upheaval of their home lives. In 2022, each Ukrainian child was forced to spend an average of 900 hours – more than 38 days – in shelters and safe houses, according to the organization Save the Children. Nearly 10 million Ukrainians, including 1.4 million children, are at risk of mental health issues due to war. Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science told Reuters that more than 50,000 children sought professional help with mental health issues in the first nine months of 2024, three times more than in 2023. Children may develop speech defects, have terrible nightmares, or show symptoms of moodiness, difficulty concentrating, irritability, anxiety, and fear.
The photographer wished to shed light on children who have grown up surrounded by violence, their innocence fractured but their spirit enduring as they adapt to a new life.
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