- Title: Volunteers bring Christmas to children in Ukraine's war-torn east
- Date: 23rd December 2019
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) VOLUNTEER, INNA ACHKASOVA, SAYING: "There are 1254 children in our database now. There are donors to buy presents for 715 children. 539 children are still waiting. We are still looking for magicians." MAN BRINGING GIFTS FOR CHILDREN MAN PACKING GIFTS NEAR ZOLOTE, LUHANSK REGION, UKRAINE (RECENT - DECEMBER 19, 2019) (REUTERS) VAN CARRYING VOLUNTEERS BRINGING CHRISTMAS GIFTS TO CHILDREN PASSING UKRAINIAN ARMY CHECKPOINT VOLUNTEER DRIVING THROUGH VILLAGE DAMAGED BY FIGHTING VAN PASSING BY OSCE OBSERVERS' CARS VOLUNTEERS DRIVING THROUGH STREETS DAMAGED BY FIGHTING DAMAGED WINDOW VAN ARRIVING AT SCHOOL GRAFFITI ON SCHOOL WALL WARNING CHILDREN NOT TO TOUCH SUSPICIOUS OBJECTS VOLUNTEERS UNLOADING CHRISTMAS GIFTS FROM VAN
- Embargoed: 6th January 2020 11:56
- Keywords: Christmas Luhansk region Ukraine children conflict east gifts presents volunteers
- Location: NEAR ZOLOTE, LUHANSK REGION AND KHARKIV, UKRAINE
- City: NEAR ZOLOTE, LUHANSK REGION AND KHARKIV, UKRAINE
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA003BB74UUX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Volunteers in Ukraine's Kharkiv can proudly call themselves Santa's little helpers after they took on a mission earlier this month to bring Christmas cheer to children in areas affected by conflict in the country's east.
The volunteers collected letters to Santa Claus from more than one thousand children from Luhansk region, one of the areas caught up in conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists over the last five years.
A list with gifts was made public online so donors could make the children's wishes come true by buying or contributing money for presents.
Ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays, volunteers dressed as Santa Claus and his reindeer hit the road to make sure the children would receive their presents right on time.
Natalya Zlobina, who came with her son Artem to get his present, said the family used to hide in their basement when there was shelling. "He does not know what peace looks like," she said of Artem.
On Dec. 2, UNICEF reported there had been 36 attacks on schools in the area in 2019, with one school hit 15 times. The agency warned more than 400,000 children are living with emotional trauma associated with growing up in a conflict zone.
Over 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict. Relations between Ukraine and Russia collapsed following Moscow's annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, which prompted Western sanctions.
(Production: Vitaliy Hnidyy, Sergiy Karazy, Margaryta Chornokondratenko) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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