More Than 140,000 Children Have Been Forced To Flee Their Homes, UNICEF Reports

UNICEF is concerned with the current humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine as more than one million people have been forced to flee their homes, including more than 140,000 children.

According to UNICEF, approximately 700,000 people have limited access to safe drinking water and over 100,000 children and caregivers need psycho-social support.

Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF Regional Director for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, traveled to the region to assess the situation of children and families affected by the conflict in Ukraine.

In Slovyansk, the UNICEF team distributed humanitarian aid, including essential hygiene supplies to mothers with children.

Poirier visited the school #9, which was devastated by shelling in May 2014.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Education of Ukraine, UNICEF trained 400 school psychologists to identify and respond to children's heightened stress.

Over 5,000 children with psycho-social support were reached through group counselling.

Poirier shared a session with over 30 children, aged 12-14, who have been drawing to express their feelings about their past experience and their aspirations for peaceful future.

SHOTLIST:
11 – 12 MARCH 2015, SLOVIANSK – KRAMATORSK, UKRAINE

Bus-stop damaged by heavy shelling
Bus-stop in detail
Damaged bus-stop
Entrance to the city, sign 'SLOVIANSK'
Child in queue to receive aid
Mother carrying child in queue to receive aid
Aid queue
Mother and child enter building with UNICEF logo to receive aid
Child and mother receive aid
Volunteers work with people
Gas station and school
Damages at the gas station
Marie-Pierre gives backpacks to schoolchildren
Schoolchildren examine backpacks
Schoolchildren examine backpacks
Drawing
Girl's face
Girl's face to drawing and back to girls face

SOUNDBITE (English) Marie-Pierre Poirier, Regional Director, CEE/CIS:
"I'm here in school 9 with Lera and many of her friends to discuss with children what has been their experience over the past weeks. They told me they suffered so much from the conflict, but they also drew great drawings about their dreams of peace, of happiness, of friendship. If Ukraine listens to her children, I think we have a bright future."

SOUNDBITE (Russian) School girl:
"When the war came to Sloviansk I could not finish school and had to leave. But, later I came back and started studying again. With this picture I wanted to show the war, as when we were leaving. We moved to Dnipropetrovsk."

SOUNDBITE (Russian) School girl:
"We arrived to a friend of mine, into a camp. We lived there for 2 months in summer, and then we came back {to Sloviansk}."

SOUNDBITE (Russian) School girl:
"When we were leaving, I felt heavy-hearted. I wanted everything to stop when I were back."

DURATION: 02:58