An Urgent Appeal: Save The Children’s Work In Ukraine

Here follows an update on the work Save The Children are undertaking in Ukraine, plus an urgent appeal for donations directly to help alleviate the suffering of children in a time of war.

For children in Ukraine, this is an incredibly scary and uncertain time. According to the latest reports, up to 10 children have already lost their lives in the fighting. Over the past few days, families have been sheltering in basements and underground stations to stay safe. And thousands of families have fled escalating violence, seeking safety in neighbouring countries like Romania and Poland. There could be up to 7 million people forced to flee.

Anna and her family live in Ukraine and were woken up by explosions and shots when the fighting began. They quickly moved to a bomb shelter nearby. “All this horror lasted from five to nine in the morning,” she said. “At the moment we only hope that this silence will last as long as possible.”

Listen to her story in her own words.

Even before the events of this week, 400,000 children in Ukraine needed support.
Now, 7.5m
children are at huge risk of injury, hunger and cold.

No child should live in fear of violence, shelling and being forced from their homes. Our teams are ready to scale up our response to ensure that children and families impacted by this
crisis have the support they need to get through this.

Save the Children has been working in Ukraine since 2014, delivering essential humanitarian aid to children and families, including:

• distributing winter kits and hygiene kits to families, including soap, washing powder, toothbrushes, warm clothes and blankets.
• providing cash grants, so families can afford the basics like food, rent and medicines, or so they can invest in starting new businesses.
• supporting specialist teams to make sure children can access safe, inclusive, quality education.
• working with schools and community centres to help children overcome the mental and psychological impacts of what they’ve experienced and build their
  resilience.

Our teams and partners in Poland, Romania, and Lithuania are urgently assessing what support children and families need, and they’re preparing to provide urgent, life-saving aid like cash, food, water, psychological support, and safe spaces for children.