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In western Ukraine, displaced children play to forget war
Inside a play tent for displaced children in western Ukraine, some children are stacking cubes under dangling origami, others colouring cartoon characters with crayons.
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Children play in a tent set up by the UN children's agency UNICEF in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on April 27, 2022. (AFP/Yuriy Dyachyshyn)
I
nside a play tent for displaced children in western Ukraine, 12-year-old Natan said his cat Marquisa was not acting normally, sleeping all day and staying awake all night.
Maybe it was because she was so stressed after all the Russian bombs on his home city of Mariupol, he said, as his fluffy white pet snoozed curled up in her carrier box.
Leaving her to rest, he joined other children playing, some stacking cubes under dangling origami, others colouring cartoon characters with crayons.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has forced at least two thirds of the country's 7.5 million children to flee their homes, Save the Children says.
As the war grinds on into its 10th week, organisations working with children are increasingly concerned about the mental toll it is taking on younger Ukrainians and their parents.
Outside a municipal building in the western city of Lviv, Natan waited in the tent set up by the UN children's agency for his parents to finish government paperwork.
Under the canvas, a mother steadied her wobbly toddler in an avocado-themed jumpsuit. Natan crawled around the play mat, giving a younger child a ride on his back.
