UZHHOROD, Ukraine — This week marks the start of the school year in Ukraine, a pivotal time for any student, especially for teenagers in their final year of high school. Ukrainian teens have more than just grades and university choices on their minds — they are grappling with the realities of war. One student, still haunted by memories of his hometown in the Luhansk region, nearly all under Russian control, struggles to adapt to life in the Kyiv area after surviving the Russian occupation.
Homesickness lingers, a constant reminder of what he left behind. Two other teens agonize over choosing their future professions: They make plans for the future while navigating daily threats from Russian-guided bombs and missiles in their front-line cities. Just before the school year started, the three found a time of peace and healing at a summer camp on the opposite side of the country.
The camp for children affected by the war was created and organized by the Voices of Children charity foundation and sponsored by the Olena Zelenska Foundation, the charity set up by the wife of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. For the three teens, it was a rare chance to socialize with other young people from around Ukraine who faced war trauma and to take a much-needed break to find further strength. 'I am confident that I will have a future' What 16-year-old Oleksandr Hryshchenko liked most about the summer camp in Uzhhorod, near the western border with Slovakia, was that "there was no foc.