24/02/2026
1462 days. 4 years of war.
Lev lives in Dnipro. He dreams of becoming an astronaut to “explore space, full of mysteries and infinite”. He likes to lie down during reflection time and imagine which planet he would fly to.
Tymofiy has survived several forced moves, the loss of his home, and the most painful of all – the death of his father, Andriy. Today, living in Kyiv, Tymofiy tries to combine ordinary teenage life with responsibilities that came too soon. His dream is to become an IT specialist.
Mariia moved to Zaporizhzhia from Orikhiv, a village in the same region. She used to dance, but after moving she stopped for a while. Like her mom, who works in the State Emergency Service, Mariia wants to become an investigator and solve difficult cases.
Daria lives in Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv. She writes poems and wants to become a journalist. “I dream of a (…) a place where happiness overflows,/Where your soul and mine in silence repose./Where peace is real, no shots, no war,/And laughter rings from wall to floor.”
These are just a few of the children participating in the activities organized by our partners working across Ukraine. Children whose lives were completely shattered on 24 February 2022, when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine started.
Today we enter the 5th year of the war, and we need to remember that behind every single number telling the horrors of war there is a story. The story of Lev, Daria, Tymofiy, Mariia, and other children like them. Today we are renewing our commitment to continue supporting our partners as they help children have their rights fulfilled even during the war. They support children to have their dreams come true.
