Themes by tag: children
A press conference titled “A Dream That Unites” is going to be held by the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation in Kyiv on October 28. The event will highlight the unique initiative of 16-year-old Sofiia, a Ukrainian girl who built a model of the legendary An-225 Mriya aircraft and launched a charity fundraiser to provide psychological support to children affected by the war.
Three years ago, Sofiia was forced to leave Ukraine because of the war and moved to Switzerland. She faced many challenges, including adapting to a new environment, feeling lonely, and being bullied. However, with the help of psychologists from the Voices of Children Foundation, Sofiia was able to overcome these difficulties and integrate into her new environment. Inspired by her experience, she decided to help other children.
Sofiia meticulously built a detailed model of the An-225 Mriya aircraft. During a school presentation in Switzerland, she shared stories about Ukrainian children who have lost their homes and parents or who live in constant danger. She decided to raffle off the model in a charity lottery, directing the proceeds to the foundation’s psychologists, who provide critical support to children affected by war.
Representatives from SkyUp Airlines and the jewelry brand Kochut were inspired by Sofiia’s story and joined the initiative by adding valuable branded gifts to the charity raffle. The project also received support from the State Enterprise “Antonov” and Dmytro Antonov, the legendary pilot of the An-225 Mriya. Sofiia’s model was transported from Switzerland to Ukraine, where it will be exhibited for a month at the State Aviation Museum in Kyiv.
Participants:
- Sofiia, creator of the Mriya model (online);
- Olena Rozvadovska and Azad Safarov, co-founders of the Voices of Children Charity Foundation;
- Dmytro Antonov, pilot of the An-225 Mriya aircraft.
Media representatives and all interested parties are invited to attend the event.
From October 16 to 19, the “Povstanska Vatra 2025” (Rebel Fire 2025) camp jamboree organized by the Youth Nationalist Congress will take place in the Kyiv oblast. This four-day event will bring together young people from across Ukraine to learn, share experiences, test their teamwork skills, and experience the power of unity firsthand.
The “Povstanska Vatra” jamboree is more than just a retreat. It is a space for intellectual, physical, and patriotic development. The word “jamboree” signifies a “gathering of all tribes after a long war” or a “great council”.
This year’s key program blocks include:
- Educational block featuring lectures and discussions on state-building, volunteering, veteran affairs, and civic activism;
- Direct interaction: opportunities to engage with veterans, civil activists, and leading lecturers;
- Team activities: team-building games, practical tasks, calisthenics, sports, and rugby;
- Evening bonfires with songs and an atmosphere of unity and camaraderie.
Although there is an organizational fee for the camp, participants from the Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts will be able to attend for free.
Journalists are invited to cover the “Povstanska Vatra 2025” jamboree and speak with participants and organizers, by prior arrangement.
Alto, a one-and-a-half-year-old Golden Retriever, now works at St. Nicholas Children’s Hospital alongside Inna Doroniuk, an educator and early childhood development specialist who volunteers with animals.
Therapy dogs are specially trained four-legged companions who support and comfort patients during treatment and rehabilitation. To qualify, an animal must complete specialized instruction, extensive training, and ultimately pass a behavioral test.
Alto passed his exam with flying colors. His mission at the hospital now includes:
- Aiding in children’s psychotherapeutic recovery;
- Assisting in physical rehabilitation;
- Providing comfort and calming influence;
- Helping to overcome social isolation;
- Offering solace during difficult moments.
By prior arrangement, journalists are invited to cover Alto’s work on-site in Lviv.
The Avtomeenko family has eight children ranging in age from three to twelve (four boys and four girls). Before the full-scale invasion, the father worked at a service station and the mother was a homemaker. The family lived in their own house in Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia oblast.
When russia’s full-scale war began, the town found itself on the front lines. On April 9, 2022, the family fled to the city of Zaporizhzhia. They first stayed in an apartment rented by the father’s sister before renting a place of their own.
They could only bring a few belongings with them from Orikhiv. Everything else — their home, their possessions, their normal life — was left behind, shattered by the war.
The family recently relocated to the Kyiv oblast, where they received a five-year, zero-rent lease on a home, thanks to the charitable organization “District No. 1”.
The Avtomeenko family is available for interviews, both online and in person in the Kyiv oblast, by prior arrangement.
On October 10, 20 children in Lviv will get a one-of-a-kind opportunity to get hands-on experience in robotic surgery using Ukraine’s only Da Vinci Si system. For the first time, they will step into the role of surgeon, operating the very robot that helped save their lives.
The session coincides with the opening of a new, state-of-the-art operating theater at St. Nicholas Hospital, built from scratch in just one year with support from the Scottish charity Kids OR. The organization, which has renovated 101 operating theaters in 35 countries, is bringing its expertise to Ukraine for the first time. The new facility will significantly expand the hospital’s surgical capacity at a time when its workload has tripled since the start of the war.
The session will take place in the hospital’s old operating room, after which the Da Vinci system will be moved to the new theater. Since the first pediatric robotic surgery in Ukraine 18 months ago, Lviv doctors have completed 106 procedures – the most in Eastern Europe. Their youngest patient was just two months old.
Registration is required to attend.
Maryna and Serhii Vovkodav, parents of five daughters, once ran a small business and lived in their own home in Orikhiv, Zaporizhia region.
Then the war upended everything. In April 2022, volunteers helped the family evacuate, and they settled into an empty apartment in Zaporizhia, with no furniture or appliances. They had to cook on the windowsill and eat meals at a bedside table.
By chance, Maryna learned about a program offering housing for displaced families at zero rent, with ownership granted after five years. She applied, and the family was eventually selected.
The new home is part of a micro-settlement built last year in Chernihiv by the District #1 Charitable Foundation, which constructed 13 houses for families displaced from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and other regions. Today, the foundation has the capacity to build 50-100 houses annually, each adapted to the needs of different families.
The Vovkodav family now lives in their new home in the Kyiv region. By prior arrangement, journalists can meet with them in person.
On September 26, the Media Center Ukraine will host the presentation of an analytical report: “How russia is erasing Ukrainian identity under the guise of fighting extremism”.
Participants:
– Mariia Krasnenko, report author, expert at the Centre of Civil Education Almenda;
– Tetiana Lychko, documentarian at the Centre of Civil Education Almenda;
– Valentina Potapova, head of Direction of National Advocacy at the Centre of Civil Education Almenda;
Key topics:
– How anti-extremism laws are being used to suppress Ukrainian culture and enforce a “all-russian identity”;
– Pressure tactics targeting teachers, students, and school communities in occupied territories under the pretext of “countering extremism”;
– Measures needed at the national and international levels to protect the Ukrainian identity of children in occupied territories;
– Examples of successful strategies already in place to counter russian ideological influence on Ukrainian children’s worldview through education.
Background: Since 2014, russia has not only conducted military aggression but also pursued a systematic campaign of ideological control in occupied territories. Under the pretext of “fighting extremism”, moscow has used legislation to target anyone preserving Ukrainian language, culture, and identity, with children and schools among the primary targets.
On October 2 in Kyiv, as part of the 16th Odesa International Film Festival, the documentary Children in the Fire (Ukraine, USA, and the Czech Republic; directed by Evgeny Afineevsky) will premiere. The film documents crimes committed against Ukrainian children during the war, including abduction, deportation, and attempts at forced assimilation.
Subjects include Valeriia Sydorova, from Nova Kakhovka, who survived russian occupation and deportation to Crimea; Yana Stepanenko, who lost her legs in a russian missile attack on the Kramatorsk railway station; and Vladislav Buryak, who endured russian captivity. You can read the children’s detailed stories here.
Despite their traumatic experiences, the eight young protagonists continue to believe in the future and are pursuing careers as athletes, artists, and civil servants.
The film has already been screened at festivals in Monte Carlo, Raindance, and Documentaries Without Borders.
Journalists will have the opportunity to speak with the children featured in the film and the creative team. Registration is required to attend the event.
On September 23, Kyiv will host an award ceremony for the winners of the all-Ukrainian essay and poster contest, “I Hear You: Supporting a Peer Under Occupation”. The ceremony will showcase the works of winners and laureates, each serving as a message of support for peers living under temporary occupation. These messages have already been heard.
Event program:
- Presentation of the exhibition “I Hear You: Supporting a Peer Under Occupation”;
- Addresses by representatives of state institutions and contest jury members;
- Award ceremony for contest winners.
The contest was organized for the second time by the Almenda Civic Education Center. The goal of the contest is to promote understanding and empathy within Ukrainian society regarding the challenges faced by children in temporarily occupied territories. Nearly 700 works were submitted in the essay and social poster categories by children from various regions of Ukraine.
The organizers invite media representatives, civil society organizations, and all interested parties to attend the event and cover the ceremony. They also encourage attendees to share stories about children using creativity to support their peers under occupation.
The contest received support from Ukrainian artists Oleksandr Grekhov and Kateryna Babkina, as well as the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, the Presidential Representation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and the Children’s Rights Protection Center of the Ombudsman’s Office.
Registration for the event is required and will be open until September 21.
Background: The event is organized within the framework of the “Childhood Protection: Justice and Reintegration for Children from TOT” project, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic under the Transition Promotion Program.
Last week, 16 children were rescued from an occupied area as part of the Bring Kids Back UA initiative, which was launched by the President of Ukraine and carried out with the help of the Save Ukraine team.
- 17-year-old Milana had to wait for her mother, who was held captive in a basement for three days without food or water — simply because the girl’s father is a Ukrainian soldier. She endured searches, polygraph tests, and humiliation, and was threatened with being “dumped in the Dnipro River.” Milana lived in constant fear that her mother would disappear forever.
- 17-year-old Mark went to school and was registered for military conscription. After a “psychological test”, russian soldiers took him and some of his classmates to a military enlistment office without parental consent. The boy nearly became an orphan when a drone hit his parents’ car — they survived by a miracle.
- 2-year-old Solomiia also miraculously survived the occupation. When the girl woke up at night with a fever of 40°C, her mother, Olena, unable to call an ambulance, decided to drive her daughter to the hospital herself. However, russian soldiers refused to let their car cross the bridge, threatening to smash the windows. Olena then carried Solomiia across a pontoon bridge in the darkness.
- The family of 14-yearian Alina barely managed to flee the occupation in time to avoid being left homeless. The occupying authorities threatened to seize their apartment. They were initially refused passage at the checkpoint until the girl deleted all Ukrainian channels from her phone.
Today, they are all safe. They are undergoing rehabilitation, recovering documents, and receiving psychological support and assistance with housing. They now have a roof over their heads and ongoing support.
Journalists may speak with Save Ukraine representatives by prior arrangement.
