The young and older Ukrainians who saw the war depict Russia as evil. They consider the war is a tragedy that stole the childhood from the small ones and made them look at the world in a different way, Vitaly Timish, adviser at the Embassy of Ukraine in Chisinau, said in IPN’s public debate on the issue, referring to the Ukrainians who fled from the war.

“No matter when and how the war ends, these children suffered a trauma that will have an impact throughout their life. They will be different from now on. They now look at the reality in a different way. If the boys will once want to play “war”, you surely realize who the enemy will be, even if someone earlier spoke about fraternal nations... And they will remember with gratitude those who once sheltered them and helped them. If they are too young to remember these days, their parents will tell them where they had been and what they had experienced,” stated the diplomat.

Speaking about the dimensions of the flow of Ukrainian refugees, Vitaly Timish said that over 360,000 Ukrainian entered Moldova since February 24 and most of them continued their way to Europe after resting for several days. Others decided to return home in a period, while the other part obtained the status of refugee in Moldova. The refugees in the Republic of Moldova now total 96,000 and about 40,000 of them are children. Most of the first refugees came from Odessa region after the city’s industrial areas and infrastructure rather than the residential areas were shelled. The wealthier families took personal belongings and their children and went abroad.

In the case of the children from Zhitomir region, these were evacuated inside the country from the battle zones, where the situation is much more serious. As regards the Republic of Moldova, children from children’s homes were transferred here and groups of them went to Romania after a period.

Asked by the moderator what the Ukrainian children complain about, Vitaly Timish said they do not have particular complaints, but they want home as the place where they are now is temporary for them. This place is not foreign to them as even the linguistic environment is favorable to them. They just want home.

The public debate entitled “What will Ukrainian children recollect of war, countries and people?” was the 235th installment of IPN’s project “Developing Political Culture through Public Debates” that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.