Emotional trauma piles up for Ukraine's children three years after invasion

By Margaryta Chornokondratenko and Anastasiia Malenko

KYIV (Reuters) - As the air raid siren sounded for a ballistic missile threat in Kyiv, dozens of eight-year-old children descended into their primary school's basement with pencils and textbooks to continue class.

Within moments the bomb shelter was teeming as one group of children practiced cursive writing, another one set about reading and a dance class erupted in the middle of the room.

"It's the war that has made them mature," said Liudmyla Yaroslavtseva, their teacher at Kyiv's Art Lyceum "Zmina", remembering how the children used to cry and even panic when the siren blared in the first year of the war.

Three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, that maturity has come at a cost as children have learned to live with heightened anxiety and officials note an increase in minors seeking mental health assistance.

Some fear these emotional scars could remain, even if the fighting is brought to a halt soon as U.S. President Donald Trump presses for a rapid peace in the war with Russia.

Over 50,000 children sought professional help with mental health issues in the first nine months of 2024 - three times more than in 2023 - according to data provided to Reuters by Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science.

While the challenge of ensuring safe education defined the early months of the war, demands for psychological support for teachers and students began to surge in 2023, the ministry said in a statement.

"Children in primary school, especially in times of war, often experience psychological trauma due to the unstable situation, air raids, loss of loved ones or their place of residence," it said.

Children could develop anxiety and behavioural issues in these circumstances, making identifying psychological needs and providing support more urgent, it added.

TANKS, PLANES AND BOMBS

Valentyna Maruniak, 56, who teaches art at the school in Kyiv, has traced her pupils' changing emotional state in their artwork since 2022.

"They used to paint mainly tanks, planes, bombings. Now, they are painting the sun, rainbows, flowers, and something beautiful… They want victory, joy, spring and calm," she said.

When Maruniak asked her class to draw the most memorable moments of the invasion, which has spanned a third of their lives, some depicted singing competitions or new pets.

But others drew longed-for memories of peaceful times, or tanks, or loved ones at war, during a class attended by Reuters earlier this month.

Solomiia Karanda, 8, painted a landscape she missed -- a plane over a village in southern Ukraine where she used to visit her grandmother who fled due to the war.

"A missile struck a home close to my grandma's but now it is getting rebuilt," Karanda said.

"She got scared and went to live in Romania."

After three years, the eight-year-old still gets unsettled when home alone during air alerts, she says.

"I usually close the door to my room and get in the bed with my toys. This makes it less scary."

Her classmate Nikita Bondarenko, 8, has learned to curl up against the thickest wall in the apartment with his younger sister.

"I tell her, Masha, missiles and bombs are flying, covering her with blankets and pillows," he said as he drew a tank inspired by stories from his dad, serving in the armed forces.

CHILDREN NEAR THE FRONT

While children in Kyiv deal with interruptions due to air alerts, schoolchildren closer to the front often can't make it to school at all due to the safety concerns, meaning they seldom see their peers face-to-face.

"This is a huge problem which will await us in future because this generation of children has not had offline interactions -- meaning communication, socialization, adaptation to routine -- in four years," said Katerina Timakina, 32, founder of Sane Ukraine, which organizes training to support teachers psychologically. The war followed the COVID pandemic.

Timakina added: "We are at a juncture, facing post-traumatic disorder and post-traumatic growth."

Teachers, psychologists and children are used to living in a state of chronic exhaustion without a clear end in sight, experts say.

The health ministry estimated that more than 90% of Ukrainians had at least one of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in 2022.

In 2023, it said that as many as 4 million children could need psychological help to deal with the trauma of the invasion.

Yaroslavtseva, the teacher in Kyiv, tries to project calm and a positive attitude, knowing how sensitive the kids are.

But she tears up thinking about her mother and husband who remain in territories occupied by Russia, and says the "crazy tempo" set by her eight-year-olds helps her to keep going.

"Three years is too much."

(Reporting by Anastasiia Malenko; Editing by Tom Balmforth and Alexandra Hudson)