Ukrainian children spent more than 900 hours in underground shelters since war began - Save the Children

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, children in Ukraine have spent an average of about 920 hours, equivalent to 38 days, in underground shelters.

According to the Save the Children organization, sources that aggregate official data to calculate the number and duration of air raid sirens across Ukraine show that a total of 16,207 sirens were announced during the past year, lasting for about an hour on average.  In Kharkiv, for example, there were more than 1,700 air sirens in the past year lasting for about 1,500 hours total, while regions of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia experienced over 1,100 hours of alarms each.   

In bigger cities like the capital Kyiv, families take their children to underground parking lots or subway stations. Some of them even set up tents in these subterranean passages in the first stages of war.  

The Save the Children emphasized that the stress of everyday life under bombardment is leaving a heavy toll on children and adults’ mental health and psychosocial conditions. The World Health Organization estimated that one in five individuals who experience conflict are at high risk of facing some form of mental disorder, with symptoms growing more severe as hostilities wage on. 

This catastrophic year of war on children has been assessed in a new Save the Children report (A Heavy Toll). It outlines the constant grave danger facing boys and girls every day in Ukraine, and highlights the psychological distress of having witnessed violence, separation from family and friends, displacement, and lack of access to education, among other violations.   

The organization called on adhering the obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.

Save the Children also called on ensuring civilians and civilian objects, especially those impacting children such as homes, schools, and hospitals, be protected from attack.

“Perpetrators of violations against children must be held to account,” the organization said.

It is noted that Save the Children has been working in Eastern Ukraine since 2014. Since 24 February, it has reorganized the program across the entire country and provided assistance to more than 800,000 people, including more than 400,000 children.

Photo: CTK Photo