Dispatch from Ukraine
One year on since the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine,
Plan International Canada’s Linda Liutkus visited Kyiv and reports on our humanitarian efforts.
Words by Mandy Sherman
Design by Belle Vo
Bomb shelters vs ballet performances. Air-raid sirens vs the sounds of children’s laughter in playgrounds. How do the residents in Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv remain resilient during such disparate moments?
“SURREAL” and “HORRENDOUS” are the first words that Linda Liutkus uses to describe life in Ukraine right now. But “determined” and “committed” are the descriptors that linger most in her mind. That’s because of all the ways she saw people in Kyiv supporting each other – and striving to maintain some normalcy – amid the conflict.
“Sometimes, you’d see little kids playing in a playground, and it would be surreal because we were literally down in a bomb shelter six hours ago with missiles being shot over the city,” Liutkus says.
For six weeks in late 2022, the Plan International Canada monitoring and evaluation advisor joined Plan International colleagues and partners in the capital city of Kyiv. Together, they are working hard to deliver critical emergency services despite air missile attacks and days without electricity or heat.
“The staff in Ukraine are still rolling out projects and doing their jobs every day, even when that means writing funding proposals from bomb shelters,” Liutkus says.
Communities in the eastern parts of Ukraine have been affected by conflict since 2014. But on February 24, 2022, the world watched as the war escalated dramatically.
To date, almost 15 million people have been forced to leave their homes in Ukraine, resulting in Europe’s largest refugee wave since the Second World War. Critical infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, continue to be damaged by air raids and other attacks.
17.7
million
people in Ukraine need humanitarian assistance – that's
40%
of the population.
How life in Kyiv has changed in recent months
“People living in Kyiv told me that as recently as August, life felt almost normal,” Liutkus recalls.
But in October 2022, bombs started dropping on the capital, mostly hitting infrastructure. Sometimes the air raids were daily, sometimes weekly, sometimes two to three times a day.
When Liutkus arrived, this had already been happening for weeks – and it continues.
Damage from the bombings means that power, water and communications in Kyiv come on and off. Sometimes the city shuts off power for 12 to 16 hours a day in order to make repairs.
“It's an ongoing challenge of finding a jacket to wear to keep warm when the heat turns off or a plug to recharge computers before the power cuts again or a flashlight so you can see,” she says.
What does the emergency response look like in Ukraine – and beyond?
Plan International has been working to support people forced to flee Ukraine and seek refuge in bordering countries – including Poland, Romania, and Moldova – since March 2022, just weeks after the conflict escalated, as well as those within Ukraine since August 2022.
To date, Plan International has reached more than 250,000 people with critical support, including food, blankets, warm winter clothing, heating appliances and safe spaces for children to continue learning.
Learn more about our education-in-emergencies programming below.
Outreach efforts range from teacher training to providing school supplies and cash vouchers, which help families pay for basic necessities.
In Moldova, for example, Plan International is working with partners like Amici del Bambini to send a bus stuffed with toys and staffed by psychologists to different villages and refugee centres. It's essentially a “playmobile” that helps children recover from trauma.
In Poland, shelters and daycare centres have been established to keep women and children safe. And in Romania, women and families are being provided kits with menstrual pads, shampoo, wet wipes and other hygiene products. These are just a few examples.
In Ukraine, the response so far has largely focused on immediate relief efforts – food, shelter, clothing and heat – especially as winter began. Support also addresses children’s education, safety and psychological well-being. Repairs have been made to damaged school buildings; tablets for online learning have been provided to help ensure students’ education continues; and children living in shelters are being given activity kits that offer entertainment and comfort.
Assessing the long-term need for continued emergency assistance
At the same time, Plan International staff and partners are also focusing on the future. They run support programs for people displaced by the ongoing conflict and are also establishing operations to support long-term recovery for families and communities. They’re beginning work on initiatives that consider what the needs will be in these communities over the next two to three years.
When Liutkus arrived in Kyiv, the team was working to hire additional team members who best understand the context and community needs. Today, two-thirds of the staff in the Kyiv office are Ukrainian. They help manage projects and operations. They provide financial management and measure the effectiveness of programs. They act as drivers and security personnel to facilitate safe travel to communities. They provide essential expertise in child protection, psychosocial care and education in emergencies.
While this was Liutkus’ first trip to Ukraine, for the past 11 years, she has travelled to communities in Cambodia, Burkina Faso, and other countries to work on Plan International projects that support children’s rights. She has also previously worked in South Sudan, Nigeria, Haiti and El Salvador to deliver programs in areas experiencing conflict, civil unrest and escalating gang violence.
“We know that even once the conflict is over, it's going to take years to fully recover,” Liutkus says.
Local staff lead Plan International’s efforts in Ukraine
of Plan International staff globally are local to the area where they work.
While international staff like Linda Liutkus continue to make vital contributions to our Ukraine response, as of February 2023, two thirds of the staff in our Kyiv office are Ukrainian.
We thank all our staff and local partners for their work to deliver vital services in extremely difficult circumstances.
90%
Local partners are key to emergency responses
Plan International's Ukraine office works closely with partner organizations based in the area. Together, they deliver critical services well beyond the capital city.
For example, the Dobrodiy Club partners with Plan International to bring creative entertainment and art therapy to children affected by the conflict in regions closer to the eastern borders.
Since 2016, the club – which is led by a group of young women who began funding their work
through small online donations – has developed art materials for children facing various challenges. As the war in Ukraine escalated, the club began providing art therapy boxes that specifically address the effects of living in a war zone.
“They go into a community and find out who the children are and what their needs are,” explains Liutkus. “Then they adapt the boxes to provide the kind of profound support that children need when they’re living through something like this.”
Residents in Kyiv work to preserve the city’s cultural landmarks and institutions
During small breaks from working on Plan International’s relief efforts, Liutkus and other international workers were invited by Ukrainian staff on walks to explore Kyiv. The staff wanted to show off the city that they take so much pride in.
Liutkus saw beautiful artwork in metro stations, she saw restaurants that were striving to re-open despite the regular air raids and she even attended a relaunched 45-minute ballet performance (with accessible $5 tickets).
“It was so inspiring,” she says. “Even during the months when the ballet stopped performing, the dancers kept practicing.”
But again, the experience was surreal. One moment, Liutkus and her colleagues were in a basement waiting for the all-clear on an air raid. Thirty minutes later, they were sitting in the opera house watching a world-renowned ballet company.
“There was this insistence that ‘We will keep going as the amazing city that we are despite what’s happening,’” Liutkus explains. “It’s one of the ways I saw people in Ukraine saying ‘We're going to keep going.’”
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Plan International is providing emergency humanitarian response to thousands of families within Ukraine, as well as families who have been forced to relocate to Moldova, Poland and Romania.
One-year on is not an anniversary – it’s not something to celebrate
Though there is much to be inspired by, in Ukraine, the humanitarian need there is great. “I don’t want to discount how horrendous it is,” Liutkus says.
More than 6.5 million people are still internally displaced. Temperatures are dropping as low as -20˚C in some parts of the country, and many people are living in homes that have been damaged or temporary shelters that are not suited for winter conditions.
When people leave Russian-controlled territories, they’re walking out with basically nothing in the middle of winter.” – Liutkus
“
With regular power outages, residents can’t count on having heat or electricity. Plan International and partners are providing, among other services, winter clothing for children and seniors, heating supplies and cooking sources like wood and coal as well as food and vouchers to help pay for necessities.
“What I saw in Kyiv was people banding together to support each other through the worst crisis they have faced in decades,” says Liutkus. “No matter what was happening – no heat, no lights, no water – the sentiment was that people were there for each other and that they will not be broken.”
Sven Coppens, Plan International's director of Ukraine crisis response, reports on the education challenges for children in Ukraine.
One in five schools in Ukraine has been damaged, and displacement is causing further interruptions to children's education. Plan International is supporting repairs, training teachers and helping to establish safe spaces and alternative learning options to ensure education remains a lifeline for children living in conflict.
“When we work in countries where there has been conflict for decades, there is an assumption that teachers support children who have experienced trauma. A teacher in Ukraine is not accustomed to having children with post-traumatic stress disorder in their classes. We’re training teachers on how to respond to the needs of children living through crises.” – Linda Liutkus
Ukraine
Moldova, Poland & Romania
Ukraine
Moldova, Poland & Romania
By the end of January 2023, 2,631 education facilities across the country had been damaged and 420 destroyed.
Plan International partners esimate that in the last three months of 2022, at least half of all online classes were cancelled.
The education of over 70% of Ukrainian children has been impacted since the escalation of the conflict in February 2022
5.2 million children and teachers across Ukraine require substantial education assistance.
In January 2023, two out three displaced school-age children were not enrolled in their host country’s education system.
In Moldova, out of 43,196 minors from Ukraine, 1,155 of them were enrolled in school in grades 1 to12.
Plan International partners in Romania stated that out of the approximately 38,000 school-age children from Ukraine currently in Romania, only about 4,000 (10.5%) are registered in Romanian schools.
In Poland, UNICEF and UNHCR figures for January 2022 indicate that of the 600,200-plus school-age children from Ukraine currently in Poland, 69.4% of them are not in the Polish education system.
Education in emergency: Key statistics
“
When people are leaving Russian-controlled territories, they’re walking out with basically nothing in the middle of winter,” – Liutkus
“
When we work in countries where there has been conflict for decades, there is an assumption that teachers support children who have experienced trauma. A teacher in Ukraine is not accustomed to having children with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in their classes. We’re training teachers on how to respond to the needs of children living through crises.” – Linda Liutkus
“
Read more about how temporary shelters and daycares continue to support refugees in Poland, many of whom are still hopeful about returning home to Ukraine.
Read More
Education remains critical in emergency response
Education remains critical in emergency response
One in five schools in Ukraine has been damaged and displacement is causing further interruptions to children’s education. Plan International is supporting repairs, training teachers, and helping to establish safe spaces and alternative learning options to ensure education remains a lifeline for children living in conflict.
Burned chairs in a classroom an hour outside of Kyiv. The school was damaged when ammunitions being stored by Russian forces exploded.
In Kyiv, this vehicle now stands as a monument reflecting the conflict in Ukraine.
An apartment block in Kyiv that was destroyed by a missile in April 2022. Credit image to Shutterstock 2261436505/Harmony Video Production
This mosaic is one of countless pieces of artwork still preserved in the streets and metro stations of Kyiv.
Life goes on in Kyiv. A man sells Valentine’s Day balloons on the street. Credit image to Shutterstock 2261876371/Doroznik
Plan International staff pose in front of a city landmark in Kyiv.
Student artwork hangs on a wall in a village outside Kyiv.
Nastya, 15, and Amina, 14, stand in front of artwork at their high school.
Ukraine