Destroyed School, Chernihiv, Ukraine. Photo credit: Kevin McCabe/UCAP
By Irwin Redlener, MD & Karen Redlener
Co-Founders, Ukraine Children’s Action Project
After three years of the worst fighting in Europe since the end of World War II, it is important to understand that this violence has been taking a terrible toll on Ukraine’s children, the most vulnerable civilians in this - or any - war.
Here’s what we know about how the war has actually impacted children and youth:
Between 2,000 – 3,000 children have been killed or injured. The tally could be much higher, but data from eastern Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine is impossible to verify.
The Ukraine government says that at least 20,000 Ukrainian children and youth have been abducted to Russia. Younger children have been put up for adoption by Russian families. Teens are being sent to “reeducation camps,” where they are groomed for service in the Russian military. The Russians insist that the number of abducted children is in the hundreds of thousands.
At least a million internally displaced children in Ukraine and another million living with at least one parent as refugees outside Ukraine have been facing significant educational disruption.
Data shows that at least one in three children is dealing with significant psychological trauma related to the ongoing war.
And Ukraine is a country in mourning. More than 50,000 of its military personnel have died in combat, leaving many grieving children, older parents and siblings behind. (That number of fatalities would be the equivalent of more than 400,000 American troops dying in a war based on a similar proportion of our much larger population.)
Adding to the consequences of the war itself, recent decisions by the Trump administration have significantly degraded, or potentially eliminated, U.S. support for vital humanitarian aid. This only adds to the legitimate fear of more civilian suffering as the war continues.
Still, in spite of the trauma inflicted by the unwarranted invasion and occupation by Russia, Ukrainians have remained resilient and resolute. That said, attitudes and expectations among exhausted civilians may be changing.
While surveys as recently as the beginning of this month show that support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains high at 57%, Ukrainians may be increasingly resigned to the loss of territory to Russia in return for an end to active fighting.
Ukraine can survive this war and thrive once the fighting ends and an agreement can be reached that guarantees the country’s stability and security for the foreseeable future. There is every reason to believe that with such assurances, Ukraine will remain a reliable ally for the United States and other democracies worldwide.
Moreover, as we have witnessed in the dozens of projects supported by the Ukraine Children’s Action Project (www.UCAP.help), Ukraine’s children and youth will be ready to embrace and participate in their country's recovery. However, assuring the safety, well-being, and education of these children of war will ultimately determine how quickly and effectively the recovery will unfold.
