Summer camp for missing Ukraine children

The day when the large -scale invasion of Russia began, Dima’s father told him that he could never see him again.

“The building on our street has exploded. Dad said,” I will do everything I can so that you can live a normal life. “”

A few days later, Dima’s father joined the army and left for the front line.

Dima, fifteen, shares her father’s memories with 49 other Ukrainian children. Sitting around a campfire, they hold candles to commemorate their missing loved ones.

The gentle slopes of the mountains of the carpats of Ukraine, stifled in brilliant green spruce and fir trees, extend far away.

It is a striking backdrop for this heartbreaking scene. We are in relative security in western Ukraine, Russian bombs rarely fall here.

A little girl talks about the moment when the large -scale invasion started.

“The first time we were bombed, my hands trembled and I was crying,” she said. “It took me a long time to face it.”

This campfire activity is a kind of group therapy session. This is part of a pioneering summer camp for a very special group of Ukrainian children, those who have a parent who disappeared during the war.

Some are missing soldiers in front line, presumed dead. Some are in captivity or trapped in occupied areas.

The Ukrainian government claims that more than 70,000 people are officially listed as disappeared.

The charitable organization that directs the camp, Gen.ukrainien, helps thousands of traumatized children across Ukraine and directs several summer camps.

But it is the first for this category of children, and the BBC received exclusive access.

“Many of these children have several traumas because not only their fathers are missing, but some of them have also disappeared from uncles and grandmothers,” explains Vanui Martirosyan, psychologist leading to the charitable organization.

“They live as in a frozen state. They cannot plan something in the future because they do not know what the future will bring. And we cannot work with them as with children with real loss, because they do not have this starting point.”

She says that many children spend hours chatting Russian social media canals, desperately looking for information about family members. The channels often contain violent content linked to war.

“They are afraid of crying, they think that if they start to cry, it will continue forever. This type of trauma may be the most difficult to work.”

The day after the campfire meeting, I speak to Dima, who means telling me more about her father. The last time he heard of him was the day before his disappearance in November 2023.

“He sent a video of them drinking tea in the forest and wrote to me a message saying:” All is well, I will call you tomorrow “, says Dima.

The next day, Dima’s mother received a phone call saying that her father was missing.

“I started calling his mobile. Dad did not answer. That was all. I was sitting there and I started crying. I realized that I would not see my father for a while.”

During all our interviews with children, including with Dima, a Gen.ukrainian psychologist was present.

“I continued to hope until the end that Dad is a prisoner of war somewhere. Even now, I still hope,” says Dima.

Dima’s trauma has only intensified after her mother began to examine the circumstances of her father’s disappearance.

Initially, the soldiers told her that her husband was missing after an air strike on her post.

“Then someone else called mom, the chief of something or other, and said that the Russians fired on everyone, and someone saw the body of dad lying down there without any leg. Then another soldier who was in Dad’s position said he had seen him dead, with injuries in the head.”

Dima says that the effect on him and his mother was deep.

“Mom cried a lot because of this. I supported her,” said Dima. “When Dad is gone, he said,” Dima, no matter what’s going on, you have to take care of mom because you are a man and you are his son. “”

Group therapy at the camp takes place daily, held in small pieces. We are allowed to observe the start of one of the sessions – the rest is confidential.

A psychologist, Olena, shows a graphic of colors for children, used to describe emotions. The green is happy, the blue is sad, the yellow is anxious or over-stimulated, and the red is anger.

Today, they will discuss sadness. The more we feel unpleasant and sad, said Olena, the more we love the people who are sad. This shows that these people are important to us.

Children are encouraged to express their feelings, including art. During an art therapy session, many paintings show families, houses and pets happy.

A seven -year -old boy, Zahar, tells me that his painting is called “Dad comes home”. It shows men of yellow stick in front of a blue sky – the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

Many children live in cities that undergo an almost constant bombardment by Russian drones and missiles. Like the hometown of Nastia, 16, Kharkiv, in northeast of Ukraine, near the front line.

“If there are bombings nearby, I will shelter myself in the corridor. I worry and care about myself,” explains Nastia.

His father was also a soldier. He disappeared about a year ago on the front line. She saw him for the last time two weeks before her disappearance.

I ask her what memories of your father she has and her eyes shine.

“He was very nice, he spoiled me a lot. He had a sweet tooth like me, and always knew what treats will buy me,” said Nastia. “I only remember daddy’s good things. The only sad thing I remember is that he disappeared.

“I love him very much and I know he loves me too,” she continues, adding, “I hope we can again redo new memories with him.”

This camp also offers children a chance to catch up, uninterrupted by air sirens – and have fun and play. There are regular trips to the pool, hikes and volleyball games.

“It is important for the body to make movements in order to cure trauma,” said chief psychologist Vanui.

During the closing ceremony of the camp, it is time for children and the staff to say goodbye.

A boy, Ilya, is in floods of tears – he does not want to go home.

“We have a child like this in each camp,” smiles Oksana Lebedieva, the founder of Gen.ukrainian.

She points to the crowd of children playing in the garden.

“Perhaps for the first time in their lives, they have found people who have lived the same experience. And it is very important. Group therapy is more important than anything – to see that you are not alone with pain.”

Oksana says that the extent of the task in front of her charity is overwhelming.

“Millions of Ukrainian children are traumatized by war. It is a humanitarian disaster.”

Additional report by John Murphy