WAR IN UKRAINE

Three years of full-scale war in Ukraine has shattered children’s lives. Their childhoods have been ripped away as they’ve been forced from their homes and schools, lost loved ones and friends and lived in fear as air raid alerts, drones and explosions consume the world around them. From children living on the frontline of the war to those who have been displaced from their homes, the scale of loss is catastrophic.

After three years of attacks and bombardments, the number of child casualties is increasing at an alarming rate, the war zone is expanding into new areas, and air attacks now reach almost every part of the country. Families are fleeing their homes with nothing but the bare essentials, forced to abandon everything they once knew.

• Children have lost their lives and sense of safety. More than 2,500 children have been killed or injured in the past three years, with homes, schools and hospitals continually bombed. Around 25% of Ukraine is now covered in mines and explosive remnants, placing children at further risk of death or injury. Since the war started, children in frontline areas have spent 5,000 hours – the equivalent of 7 months – sheltering from attacks, often underground. In 2024 there was a significant increase in air strikes across Ukraine, which led to a 40% spike in child casualties.
• Children have lost their emotional wellbeing. The war is taking an increasingly heavy toll on children’s mental health. 1.5 million children are at risk of PTSD and depression with some children developing speech defects and uncontrollable twitching, while others have terrible nightmares and even scream in their sleep.
• Children have lost their chance to learn and connect with friends. Attacks on schools doubled in 2024 compared to 2023, and nearly 1.2 million children are missing out on full-time, in-person learning because they live too close to the frontline, or their schools do not have an equipped bomb shelter.

Active hostilities have left at least 12.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance (one in three people), including 1.9 million children.

Children in Ukraine face a dangerous and uncertain future. The frontline is moving at a rapid rate, cutting off more children and their communities from lifesaving support. The longer the conflict continues, the more likely it is that children in Ukraine will grow up without the opportunities and resources necessary to recover.

Children are suffering the most in this brutal war, and urgent action is needed to stop them falling through the cracks. Now is not the time for the world to abandon children in Ukraine – they need urgent protection, education, and mental health support. Children in Ukraine need your support more than ever. 

Four-year-old friends Oleh and Olena live in Dnipro, eastern Ukraine. Despite their young age, they are no strangers to air raids. A few times a day, the children have to hide in shelters from the air raids. 

To make children evacuate promptly, teachers have created playful drills. During alarms, they turn on loud music and dress up as fantasy creatures to reduce stress on children. 

However, often the air raids can last more than two hours, which can cause young children to feel anxious and fearful. 

To help children like Oleh and Olena cope better, Save the Children have worked with nurseries and schools not only in Dnipro, but across the whole of Ukraine, to make these spaces and shelters feel safe and fun for children. 

We have helped fill bunkers with colour, desks, chairs, games and learning materials so that children can focus on just being children. Every pupil also has a stall with an emergency backpack full of water, snacks, warm clothes, and favourite toys. 

Children are always the most vulnerable in crisis. Help protect a child’s life and future.

When families had to flee, they packed their clothes, their phone, a favourite toy. But they couldn’t pack security, income, a safe place to play or learn, someone to fight for their rights. That is why Save the Children is there: to provide what families from Ukraine could not fit in a bag. 

For the past three years, our teams, together with our 25 partners, have been providing humanitarian aid and essential services to children and their families in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.

Save the Children has been delivering humanitarian aid to children and their families in Ukraine since 2014. We have dramatically scaled up our operations since full-scale war broke out on the 24 February 2022. Our specialist teams are providing children with access to safe, inclusive, quality education and are working to help children overcome the psychological impacts of the war. Learn more about how we support the wellbeing of children living in conflict. 

We have been providing cash grants to families so they can meet their basic needs as well as food, livelihood support and medical services. So far we've reached over 254,000 individuals, including over 88,000 children, for the total amount of $63,570,000. We have also reached more than 472,000 people, including 145,000 children with food security and livelihood assistance and 2.6 million people, 695,000 children with Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services.

Since the start of the response, Save the Children has reached around 350,000 people, including around 267,000 children with Child Protection services. Save the Children has set up and is running 28 Community Centres and Child-Friendly Spaces for Children, Youth and Families, which provide a safe, protective and supportive environment for children to socialise, play, and heal and build their resilience. We provide Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) to children in Ukraine, their families, and communities.

We have also reached over 323,000 people, including more than 300,000 children with Education services. Together with our local partners, we have set up Digital Learning Centres across Ukraine, providing over 25,000 children with essential access to learning in communities where schools are destroyed, unsafe to operate fully, or hosting large numbers of girls and boys displaced by the war.

We are committed to continue serving children and families caught in this war for as long as they need to recover and rebuild their lives. 

Help us provide children with what they can't fit in a bag – their security, their education, their rights.