Media Center Ukraine Producer Department

Andrii Bieliaiev is a racer, founder and head of the NGO “Offroadbrothers.” He took part in his first competitions back in 2010, when he also met Vadym Moroz and Yevhenii Sokur. In 2022, they launched their own off-road school together.

On the site where races used to be held, they built a training ground at their own expense and now conduct daily sessions there. Requests for training from military personnel come in regularly, with bookings scheduled two to three weeks in advance.

The “Offroadbrothers” training ground includes an obstacle section, an area simulating various ruts, pits and bumps, ascents and descents, as well as a tent equipped as a lecture space. Basic skills are taught to military drivers in four hours. Most drivers come for training from frontline regions, so the program has been shortened to two hours of theory and two hours of practice. In addition to military personnel, the instructors also train drivers from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine — their course lasts three days. The team is currently working with the National Guard of Ukraine and assisting in the creation of a training center for car and motorcycle training.

Interviews with the “Offroadbrothers” team can be arranged both online and offline in Kyiv by prior appointment.

• military
• volunteers
• Kyiv

If you are interested in this topic, you can obtain the subjects’ contacts from the Producer Department of Media Center Ukraine.

To mark the anniversary of the full-scale invasion, the charitable foundation “Voices of Children” is organizing an exhibition dedicated to children’s resilience and recovery in times of war. The central part of the exhibition “Thread: Transformation instead of brokenness” features portraits of 14 children accompanied by brief stories about their lives. Some of them have lost their homes and familiar way of life. Others have endured events that changed them forever. The exhibition will open on February 19 in Kyiv.

The exhibition does not aim to demonstrate a generation’s brokenness — quite the opposite. Although war leaves marks that become engraved in our experience, transformation is not equal to weakness and does not mean destruction. What has been endured can become the foundation for something new — far stronger than before. This journey is what the exhibition “Thread” is about.

The photographs for the project were created by Marta Syrko, a portrait artist whose works have been presented at international exhibitions. In 2025, Forbes included Marta in its list 10 Women Preserving and Shaping Ukrainian Art and Culture.

Following the official opening, a panel discussion titled “Transformation instead of brokenness” will take place. The discussion will bring together professionals who work with children, defend their rights, and have themselves undergone transformation. Most importantly, the project’s young protagonists will also participate.

Among the participants and speakers:

– the project’s protagonists — teenagers Liza from Oleshky and Maks from Kharkiv;
– volunteer and founder of the “Birds” project, Tata Kepler;
– lawyer at the Regional Center for Human Rights, Kateryna Rashevska;
– co-founder of the charitable foundation “Voices of Children,” Olena Rozvadovska;
– foundation psychologist, Sofiia Stetsenko.

Journalists are required to register for the event in advance.

• children
• culture
• Kyiv

If you are interested in this topic, you can obtain the subjects’ contacts from the Producer Department of Media Center Ukraine.

The Academy of Care, together with NPC “Ukrenergo,” has launched a special initiative for Children’s Mental Health Week 2026 (World Children’s Mental Health Week 2026).

When it is dark and cold outside and power outage schedules become part of everyday life, it is especially important for children to feel that their “place” within the family remains a territory of warmth and safety. The goal of this year’s initiative is to provide families with a unique set of practical tools for “generating” warmth at home — tools that help preserve inner energy and emotional connection even during blackouts.

Format: a three-way meeting (child – adult – psychologist) via the MaPanda app. In real time, the psychologist operates the animated character Cat Pascal, creating the magic of live interaction. As a character with his own story of overcoming challenges, Cat Pascal becomes a “safe Other” for the child. Through this playful bridge, young psychologists help families tune their “mental tuning fork” of trust and safety. This is not just a session — it is the shared creation of a family story about how, even in a changing world, there is a place that truly belongs to them, where safety remains a constant.

The project will reach 700 families with children aged 6 to 9. Each family will receive a unique set of tools for “generating” warmth at home.

By prior arrangement, journalists may speak with the psychologist and founder of the “Academy of Care,” Anastasiia Svoboda, as well as, if possible, with participating families (parents and children) who have joined the initiative.

For reference: The initiative is implemented by the NGO “Opportunities. Motivation. Media.” (Academy of Care) in cooperation with MaPanda and in partnership with the Advisor–Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children’s Rights and Child Rehabilitation, Daria Herasymchuk, within the project “Gender-sensitive approaches to mental health and psychosocial support in Ukraine,” implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with funding from the Government of Germany.

• blackout
• children
• psychological support

If you are interested in this topic, you can obtain the subjects’ contacts from the Producer Department of Media Center Ukraine.