A lost childhood: Inside the Ukrainian school shut by war where children’s drawings of the conflict line the walls
Invading Russian troops – arms up, faces scared – drown in a river in the frontline city of Kherson as a Ukrainian soldier watches on, rifle raised.
The image, drawn by a child, is among a line of pictures, including of jets, tanks and corpses, that illustrates Ukraine’s lost childhood after almost two years of full-scale war.
They hang on a wall inside a school – shut for normal lessons – where a charity offers support to the dwindling number of children in Kherson whose parents have yet to flee.
One six-year-old boy, looking at the sketches, says his favourite is of a large Ukrainian tank.
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“I like tanks,” says Ivan Rozsoha, clutching the hand of his grandmother, who brings him to the school for speech therapy.
The little boy, dressed in a puffy winter coat and a woolly hat, says it is scary when Russian troops launch artillery, drone and missile strikes against his city – a daily occurrence.
“When rockets fall, I try to hide my head under my toys,” Ivan says, gesturing with his hands.
In one image, drawn by a child, a Ukrainian soldier watches on as Russian soldiers marked with the “Z” that has become a symbol of its invasion drown in the water below
He wants to become a soldier when he grows up and thinks Russia is bad, saying: “They are destroying Ukraine and I know how to destroy them.”
Zina Rozsoha, 67, his grandmother, appears distressed to hear such heavy thoughts from a child. Asked how she feels, she just says: “Tears.”
The speech therapy takes place in a classroom with more than a dozen other children, aged around four to seven, sitting at tables, clutching crayons and coloured pencils.
Anastasia Andryushchenko, a therapist, encourages them to express themselves through art, by drawing sad and happy faces, and then to explain why they have chosen these expressions.
She says a growing number of children in Kherson struggle with speech. Some no longer talk at all, terrorised by the fighting and with little chance to socialise.
In another drawing, a tractor pulls away a Russian tank, in what has become a real-life symbol of Ukraine’s resistance to the invasion
“War has affected them profoundly in terms of their mental health,” the therapist says.
She adds: “In the last lesson, we were drawing Christmas trees with the children.
“Everyone had to draw a Christmas tree from their imagination. A lot of children drew a Christmas tree with explosions, with grenades. There was even a nuclear Christmas tree, which soldiers were defending.”
Loss of innocence
The loss of innocence is hardly surprising given everything that Ukraine’s children have endured since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022.
Russian troops occupied Kherson, in southern Ukraine, from the early days of the war. Ukrainian forces managed to push them out just over eight months later.
Kherson’s regional state administration building in the city centre
However, efforts to surge deeper into Russian-held territory have faltered and the frontline remains on the eastern side of the Dnipro river that marks the southern edge of the city.
Air raid sirens and artillery are the soundtrack for the few thousand children who still live in Kherson – their parents unwilling or unable to leave.
Schools and nurseries are shut, so all lessons take place online at home – whenever there is power and an internet connection.
In a small, single-storey house on a modest residential street, six-year-old Yeva Lykhenko plays alone with her doll house in her bedroom – it is too dangerous to play outside.
The fair-haired girl with a shy smile does not like online learning and rarely has the chance to mix with other children.
“She does not have a childhood. They just took it away,” says her mother, Emma Lykhenko, 37.
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At night, Yeva is often kept awake by explosions.
“When it is very loud, I always come to her and say: ‘Do not be afraid, mummy is with you’,” the mother says.
“I try not to show I am worried or nervous, but inside I am just praying.”
The mother says she does not want to move away, in part because of the cost but also because there is no guarantee that other cities would be completely safe.
“I am telling myself all the time: just a little bit longer and victory will happen,” she adds.
Rare access to the most dangerous part of Kherson
Sky News has been given rare access to an island that lies between the two banks of the Dnipro river.
It is effectively a dividing line between Ukrainian and Russian troops, though further along some Ukrainian forces have made it across to the east bank amid fierce fighting.
The island is the most dangerous part of Kherson. Yet a few families, with young children, still live here as well.
Concrete apartment blocks frame an empty playground in a residential section of an island in the Dnipro
We approach some dreary-looking, concrete apartment blocks that frame an empty playground of rusty climbing frames and swings in a residential section of the island.
On the ninth floor of one of the buildings, a young couple live with their two small daughters, Varvara, two, and Arina, who is just 18 months old.
Their apartment is tiny, filled with blankets and cushions to keep the family warm whenever the power cuts off – it has just come back on when we meet them after a three-week outage following an attack on a local energy facility.
The temperature outside is freezing.
The mother, Anastasia Tatarinova, who looks to be in her early 20s, says life is hard and the threat from Russian forces is growing.
Anastasia Tatarinova and Arina
“There are very huge explosions,” she says, sitting on a sofa and cuddling her youngest child on her lap.
“Yesterday there was a drone flying overhead. It is really worrying. All the time we are stressed.”
She was pregnant with Arina when the full-scale invasion started. The little girl, her hair pulled into a mini ponytail on the top of her head, has known nothing but war.
“She heard bombing from my tummy so has never seen normal life,” Ms Tatarinova says.
“We are afraid to play on the playground so we are staying home. It is very dangerous outside because there is shelling all the time.”
Asked whether the family will leave if the situation worsens, she says: “If it continues like that, of course, why would we stay here? We will have no choice then.”
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Football ‘too important’ to surrender
Despite the danger, some children back towards the centre of Kherson are still clinging to one passion – football.
Boys take aim towards a goal inside a well-used sports hall in a metal hanger with a curved roof, tucked in between residential blocks and deserted market stalls.
A coach blows a whistle as the children race around, kicking footballs.
Despite the danger, some children back towards the centre of Kherson are still clinging to one passion – football
Sitting in a changing room pulling up his sports socks, 12-year-old Rostislav Semenyuk says his dream is “to become a second Lionel Messi”.
He would also like to be a politician when he grows up.
The boy says he can barely remember what life was like before the war.
Asked if he can think of anything that he misses, he says: “More games – football games. There are fewer matches now.”
The head football coach says his boys and girls – the girls are due to train the next day – are not able to play matches in the Kherson region because it is too risky.
Instead, they travel to areas further away from the frontline to take on other teams.
Vyachslav Rol says the opportunity to train is “very important”.
Kyrylo Tsyvilskiy
“Children are suffering from the war so they need to distract themselves,” the coach says.
“The only opportunity for them to communicate with each other is at our training.”
A second boy, in a maroon-coloured kit, says football is his life.
“I love to train,” says Kyrylo Tsyvilskiy, 12, taking a brief pause to chat.
“My dream is I want my friends to come back, for the war to be over and for all these Russians never to exist.”
An audacious Ukrainian drone attack against multiple airbases across Russia is a humiliating security breach for Vladimir Putin that will doubtless trigger a furious response.
Pro-Kremlin bloggers have described the drone assault – which Ukrainian security sources said hit more than 40 Russian warplanes – as “Russia’s Pearl Harbor” in reference to the Japanese attack against the US in 1941 that prompted Washington to enter the Second World War.
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The Ukrainian operation – which used small drones smuggled into Russia, hidden in mobile sheds and launched off the back of trucks – also demonstrated how technology and imagination have transformed the battlefield, enabling Ukraine to seriously hurt its far more powerful opponent.
Moscow will have to retaliate, with speculation already appearing online about whether President Putin will again threaten the use of nuclear weapons.
“We hope that the response will be the same as the US response to the attack on their Pearl Harbor or even harsher,” military blogger Roman Alekhin wrote on his Telegram channel.
Codenamed ‘Spider’s Web’, the mission on Sunday was the culmination of one and a half years of planning, according to a security source.
In that time, Ukraine’s secret service smuggled first-person view (FPV) drones into Russia, sources with knowledge of the operation said.
Flat-pack, garden-office style sheds were also secretly transported into the country.
The drones were hidden in truck containers. Pic: SBU Security Service
The oblong sheds were then built and drones were hidden inside, before the containers were put on the back of trucks and driven to within range of their respective targets.
At a chosen time, doors on the roofs of the huts were opened remotely and the drones were flown out. Each was armed with a bomb that was flown into the airfields, with videos released by the security service that purportedly showed them blasting into Russian aircraft.
These drones were used to destroy Russian bomber aircraft. Pic: SBU Security Service
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Among the targets were Tu-95 and Tu-22 bomber aircraft that can launch cruise missiles, according to the Ukrainian side. An A-50 airborne early warning aircraft was also allegedly hit. This is a valuable platform that is used to command and control operations.
The use of such simple technology to destroy multi-million-pound aircraft will be watched with concern by governments around the world.
Suddenly, every single military base, airfield and warship will appear that little bit more vulnerable if any truck nearby could be loaded with killer drones.
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The most immediate focus, though, will be on how Mr Putin responds.
Previous attacks by Ukraine inside Russia have triggered retaliatory strikes and increasingly threatening rhetoric from the Kremlin.
But this latest operation is one of the biggest and most significant, and comes on the eve of a new round of peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv that are meant to take place in Turkey. It is not clear if that will still happen.
US President Donald Trump has been pushing for the two sides to make peace but Russia has only escalated its war.
Ukraine clearly felt it had nothing to lose but to also go on the attack.
Two people are dead and nearly 560 people were arrested after disorder broke out in France following Paris Saint-Germain’s victory in the Champions League final, the French interior ministry has said.
The ministry added 192 people were injured and there were 692 fires, including 264 involving vehicles.
A 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in the city of Dax during a PSG street party after Saturday night’s final in Munich, the national police service said.
The second person killed was a man who was hit by a car while riding a scooter during PSG celebrations, the interior minister’s office said.
Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez has said the man was in his 20s and although the incident is still being investigated, it appears his death was linked to the disorder.
Meanwhile, French authorities have reported that a police officer is in a coma following the clashes.
A burning bike on the Champs Elysees during the disorder. Pic: Reuters
The officer had been hit by a firecracker that emerged from a crowd of supporters in Coutances in the Manche department of northwestern France, according to reports in the country.
Initial investigations reportedly suggest the incident was accidental and the police officer was not deliberately targeted.
The perpetrator has not been identified.
A man walks past teargas during incidents after the Champions League final soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan. Pic: AP
A burning bike on the Champs Elysees during the disorder. Pic: Reuters
The interior ministry earlier said 22 security forces workers were injured during the chaos – including 18 who were injured in Paris, along with seven firefighters.
In a news conference today, Mr Nuñez said only nine of the force’s officers had been injured in the French capital.
He added that fireworks were directed at police and firefighters were attacked while responding to car fires.
There were 559 arrests across the country during the disorder, including 491 in Paris. Of those detained across the country, 320 were taken into police custody – with 254 in the French capital.
Mr Nuñez said although most people wanted to celebrate PSG’s win, some only wanted to get involved in fights with police.
He also said the force is only at “half-time” in its response because the PSG team will be celebrating their Champions League victory on the Champs Élysées later today.
Police in Paris during the disorder. Pic: Reuters
Police in Paris during the disorder. Pic: Reuters
Mr Nuñez said that the police presence and military presence in Paris will be increased on the ground for the parade.
It comes after flares and fireworks were set off in the French capital after PSG beat Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich – the biggest ever victory in a Champions League final.
Around 5,400 police were deployed across Paris after the game, with officers using tear gas and pepper spray on the Champs Élysées.
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
At the top of the Champs Élysées, a water cannon was used to protect the Place de l’Etoile, near the landmark Arc de Triomphe.
Police said a large crowd not watching the match tried to push through a barrier to make contact with officers.
Some 131 arrests were made, including 30 who broke into a shoe shop on the Champs Élysées.
Police have said a total of four shops, including a car dealership and a barbers, were targeted during the disorder in Paris.
Two cars were set alight close to Parc des Princes, police said.
PSG forward Ousmane Dembélé appealed for calm in a post-match interview with Canal+, saying: “Let’s celebrate this but not tear everything up in Paris.”
Pics: AP
After the final played at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, thousands of supporters also tried to rush the field.
Police lined up in front of the PSG end of the stadium at the final whistle, but struggled to contain the fans for several minutes when they came down from the stands following the trophy presentation.
Pics: AP
Désiré Doué, the 19-year-old who scored two goals and assisted one in the final, said after the game: “I don’t have words. But what I can say is, ‘Thank you Paris,’ we did it.”
Despite being a supporter of PSG’s rivals Olympique de Marseille, French President Emmanuel Macron also said on social media: “A glorious day for PSG!
“Bravo, we are all proud. Paris, the capital of Europe this evening.”
Mr Macron’s office said the president would receive the players at the Elysee Palace on Sunday.
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Three patients have been killed and dozens of other people were reportedly injured after a fire at a hospital in Germany.
The blaze broke out in a room in the geriatric ward of the Marienkrankenhaus early on Sunday.
It started on the ground floor and spread to the level above, with smoke affecting much of the four-storey building in the city of Hamburg.
Firefighters were alerted soon after midnight.
They said they found several patients calling for help from windows, and some people were rescued using ladders.
Pic: AP
Pic: Reuters
Three adults died and more than 30 were injured in the fire, the German news agency dpa said.
One of the injured is in a life-threatening condition, while 18 have serious injuries and 15 have minor injuries, the agency added.
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Part of the building had to be evacuated, though the wounded were mostly treated at the hospital.
Two injured people were taken to other nearby clinics.
The blaze was put out within about 20 minutes. The cause is not yet known.
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