KHARTSYZK, Ukraine – Seryozha colours in his drawing of a tank, lost in thought. Like many 7-year-olds in eastern Ukraine, he has trouble recalling a time before the war.
“They’ve always been shooting,” he says, vigorously scratching with the brightest of pencils.
Yelena Nikulenko, the director of the children’s home in the rebel-held town of Khartsyzk, says kids like Seryozha have been let down twice.
First orphaned or abandoned by their parents, they were then dumped by their new families when the Ukrainian government stopped paying benefits to foster families in separatist-controlled areas.
“On top of that, you have the war, the shelling, the …read more
Source: Macleans
