Eyewitness

Ukraine war: The talking, tears and TikTok therapy of the conflict's broken children

Across Ukraine millions of children are caught up in a war that is not of their making. One group of orphans and children from broken families have just escaped shelling in southeast Ukraine. After a long and dangerous two-day train journey they found temporary shelter in Lviv.

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One group of orphans and children from broken families have just escaped shelling in south east Ukraine.
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In war, it is always the children: Always the children displaced, always the children disorientated, always the children without a say in what adults are doing to their world. 

A school building in Lviv, in western Ukraine, now houses almost 80 boys and girls aged ten to 17 who are constantly on the move inside the country and trying to stay ahead of the fighting here.

Many of them are orphans, most of them are from broken homes, but all of them have stories to listen to.

Masha Dorofieieva is just 14-years-old - waiting for her adoption papers to be finalised in the United States - but she's already fled where she called 'home' twice in this conflict.

Mark Austin reports from a school in Lviv on the affect of war on Ukraine's children.
Image: Daily group therapy sessions are held in the shared bedrooms

She sheltered from the shelling in her school in the Luhansk Region, but shortly after she left to go west that was hit too.

"It just crushed everything. A lot of my town is crushed. Some houses [are] just [on] fire. It's all so horrid right now…just so horrid."

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Just down the hall is 15-year-old Vika. Her parents are still in the middle of the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Her legs are trembling uncontrollably and she shows us the scars where she's harming herself to deal with the anger and confusion.

But here to listen, is psychotherapist Natalia Ursu. She's worked with most of these children as part of the Donetsk-based Voices of Children Foundation since 2014.

She too has fled from the bombing with her three children, spending eight nights in a shelter giving remote support via WhatsApp, at all hours, to those who had already made the two-day train journey here.

Read more: Ukraine's First Lady writes open letter deploring the affect of war on Ukraine's children

She tells us these children are stressed by moving from their home towns in awful conditions. They're worried about the loved ones they left behind, as well as the instability - and they feel alone.

Psychotherapist Natalia Ursu who works with the voice of Ukraine Foundation. Mark Austin piece on the children of Lviv
Image: Psychotherapist Natalia Ursu who works with the Voices of Children Foundation, fled bombing in her home town - but stays here to help the youngsters

'I treat them as my own'

"What I offer is support and love," she says.

And they all need love. So much love: The confident fist-bumps we're given in the corridors, as the kids are glued to TikTok on their phones, are deceiving.

In the daily group therapy sessions she holds in the shared bedrooms, there are tears and there is intense distress.

"I treat them as my own. I stayed here to be with them," she tells us.

Vulnerable children struggle

Her eyes well up. She apologises for getting upset, but no-one in the world would blame her. It's clear the hugs she gives out - door-to-door, one after the other, are a mutual need.

There are a lot of tears here. A lot of talking and tears - as the most vulnerable of Ukraine's children struggle to understand what is going on in their country.