Dozens of Ukrainian cities were shelled during the Christmas holidays. Christmas under missiles: how Ukrainians are spending the New Year holidays this year Anna Radomskaya Peace and security
«Early in the morning of December 25, I woke up ten minutes before the missile strike. My husband and son (he is only four years old) were fast asleep. Then the attack began,” Kharkiv resident Alina Volik says of her Christmas morning.
The days before the New Year for the residents of Ukraine are passing under fire. Kyiv, Kherson, Krivoy Rog, Kharkov, Ivano-Frankivsk – and this is not a complete list of the cities affected. And even at the moment when many Christians around the world celebrated Christmas, Ukrainians were forced to hide from Russian missiles, in the subway and shelters – everyone was looking for the nearest safe place, because the strikes were carried out early in the morning. The attacks resulted in deaths, injuries, damage to residential buildings and energy facilities, millions of people were left without electricity. What Ukrainians are feeling these days – in the report of the UN News Service.
“After the eleventh explosion, I stopped counting them”
Kharkiv is one of the hardest hit cities these days. “After the eleventh explosion, I stopped counting…” says Alina.
“I thought we’d tell the god of death? Not today!” she quotes the heroine of the series “Game of Thrones” and adds: “They completely ruined our holiday.”
The girl and her family have not traveled further than the Kharkiv region since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. She says that she had previously planned to immigrate and imagined that she would live abroad. But when the war began, she realized that she didn’t want to go anywhere and saw her life only in Kharkov.
Alina Volik with her son in Kharkov.
“The first two years my psyche somehow endured, I tried to abstract myself. Now it’s harder. There is severe fatigue. I am a very resilient person, but after so much time even my psyche is broken. Especially when a bomb hits a house five minutes away from yours, a hole appears in it, people die. When you hear a rocket whistle, you will never forget it again,” Alina shares.
Alina’s family spends the pre-New Year days at work. The child goes to kindergarten. “My husband’s job is connected with the fire service. That is, if something burns somewhere at night, he is called. I used to be in the tourism business, I had an agency. But when a full-scale war began in 2022, a bomb hit the building where my office was and destroyed it badly. In general, I don’t do tourism anymore, I work as a designer in an IT company,” says the Kharkov resident.
For the first time since the war began, Kharkov feels like a holiday
The girl says that since the start of the full-scale invasion, this is the first year that the center of Kharkov has been decorated for the New Year.
“It really feels like a holiday. The last couple of years it was gloomy. Kharkov reminded me of the movie “I Am Legend” – when you go outside and there is no one there, it is dark everywhere. This year everything is very different. Of course, there are damaged buildings in the city. This reminds us that there is a war going on. But it is not true that all of Kharkov is in ruins. The city authorities are working hard, if something “flies” somewhere, they repair it,” says Alina.
“I hope for a New Year’s miracle”
“It is hard to realize that so much time has passed, and the war continues,” Alina continues. – And I want people around me to enjoy these days, to light sparklers. I hope for a New Year’s miracle. I hope that something good will finally happen in the new year. My family and I will celebrate it at home. There should be a holiday. Perhaps without dancing and singing, but there should be, because life goes on.”
The capital city suffered from one of the strongest missile attacks
Many cities in Ukraine suffered from missile attacks in the days before the New Year, and the capital city of the country suffered from one of the strongest (December 20). Kyiv was left without electricity and heating, people died, residential buildings, offices, and a cultural heritage site, the Church of St. Nicholas, were damaged.
Kiev resident Anna Sukhodolskaya was at home with her family at the time of the attack – her husband and two children – a son (11 years old) and a daughter (5 years old).
Anna Sukhodolskaya with children.
“Every night before going to bed, we check for reports of a possible missile attack. Sometimes, we wake up at night from sirens. Drones or missiles often fly over our house. Unfortunately, this has not changed during these holidays,” says Anna.
“Usually, we take the children to a relatively safe place that we have in our house. That’s what we did this time. Of course, we all heard it. You will never forget these sounds. However, when it gets really loud at such moments, my fear goes away for a minute, I understand – it means the missile was shot down, there is no more danger for my family,” the Kiev resident shares.
It is important not to pass on anxious emotions to children
Anna says that when a missile attack begins, it is important to remain calm and not to transmit your own emotions and fears to children, because they feel everything. It is necessary to talk to children, honestly and calmly explain everything to them.
“To help children and myself on such days, I often use the methods and life hacks that we developed as part of the UNICEF mental health and parent support program. For example, a special breathing technique that helps to cope with severe fear or anxiety. Also, maintaining a routine – any familiar actions – helps children a lot,” she emphasizes.
Anna Sukhodolskaya has been working in the Ukrainian office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for 17 years, and now heads the “social and behavioral change” department. She says that from her own experience she learned an important thing: “We are really very resilient and can adapt to anything.”
“We lit a lot of candles and created a festive atmosphere”
“Even after this missile attack, as a result of which there was no electricity in the house for half a day, we were supposed to have a festive dinner with the whole family. We realized that we had to make it work. We had no electricity, but we had food. We lit a lot of candles and created a festive atmosphere. You need to find little joys in every day, in every moment. “This is very important,” Anna shares.
And, the girl believes, Ukrainians know how to help each other. “We have very close-knit communities, not only in Kyiv, but in any other city. For example, very often (this has happened many times, including after this attack), when there is destruction somewhere (in cafes, shops), we then go and buy something there, or order services. In this way, we are trying to help these businesses recover,” says Anna.
UN agencies help affected people
The United Nations and its partners continue to provide assistance to those affected by military actions in Ukraine. Humanitarian programs of UNICEF and other UN agencies work in different regions of the country, especially in the most affected, frontline areas.
Humanitarian workers provide medical and psychological assistance to the population, provide victims with hot food, drinking water, cash and building materials for home repairs. In short, they are doing everything to ensure that Ukrainians are not left without support.