Hopes for victory, a swift finish to the warfare and prayers for his or her family members’ survival or return from Russian captivity are among the many needs scattered all through letters despatched to a volunteer group by Ukrainian kids dwelling in frontline areas.

Whereas the volunteers, who’re named reindeer after the magical beasts that pull Santa’s sleigh, can’t fulfill many of those goals, they attempt to ship on the less complicated ones, corresponding to requests for energy banks to assist households endure outages, bicycles, books, and even pets.

Each winter, the volunteers journey to closely broken cities to ship items and be certain that, regardless of the warfare, Ukrainian kids can have fun the vacation season similar to their friends all over the world.

This yr, the group acquired 2,310 letters, in keeping with undertaking supervisor Inna Achkasova from the NGO Ukrainian Frontiers, who launched the St. Nicholas’ Reindeers initiative in 2015.

The kids’s needs are revealed on the undertaking’s web site. Donors affectionately referred to as magicians then select a letter and purchase the requested reward to make that kid’s goals come true. The reindeer then ship these items.

“Kids are those that don’t have any selection in any respect. Nobody asks them whether or not they need to keep or go away,” says undertaking psychologist Kateryna Shutalova. “What occurs to them isn’t their selection. And this makes them probably the most susceptible.”

However each baby will get just one childhood, even when it’s formed by warfare. That’s why, of their letters, the horrors which have impacted their lives coexist with needs just like these of kids in all places.

“My father is in captivity, and I reside with my mom and brother,” one boy wrote in his letter. He continued: “I like taking part in soccer and follow it professionally. I need a leather-based soccer.”

Volunteers sift by way of all of the letters, enduring the tragic tales of every baby, to type and ship the items appropriately. Among the many writers are kids who’ve misplaced family members to shelling, endured Russian occupation, seen their properties destroyed, have dad and mom serving on the frontlines, or had been pressured to flee to flee the warfare.

“What struck me wasn’t their needs however how deeply kids really feel the necessity to inform their tales,” Shutalova says.

Carrying reindeer antlers, the volunteers set out on their journey on Dec. 6, when Ukraine celebrates St. Nicholas Day. Their journey is predicted to final till mid-January.

On a frosty morning in Kharkiv, coated by the season’s first snow, a staff of volunteers departs in two buses crammed with items, headed for the previously Russian-occupied metropolis of Izium, round 55 kilometers (35 miles) from the frontline.

At first, when the celebration has began, the youngsters observe cautiously, their expressions somber, however that temper would not final. With every exercise, they grew to become extra cheerful and engaged.

One of them is 9-year-old Alina Soboleva, who stays indifferent regardless of the volunteers’ efforts. She watches the festivities unfold with a quiet gaze. Her grandmother, Svitlana Lokotosh, explains that Alina has been withdrawn since witnessing the deaths of her mom and different grandmother in a shelling within the courtyard of their residence.

Alina had been watching by way of the window as her mom spoke on the telephone. When the shell struck, a fraction hit her mom within the neck. Her grandmother rushed outdoors to assist and was killed by one other shell.

In her letter, Alina requested for 2 pet mice. She stated it was her dream.

“Our solely want is for peace and quiet,” says Lokotosh, who took Alina in after her mom’s dying. “So the youngsters don’t should be afraid.”

Shutalova explains that oldsters typically discover it onerous to speak to their kids concerning the warfare. They’re both afraid, lack the emotional assets, or are overwhelmed by their emotions.

“However for kids to course of what they’ve been by way of, they should speak, play, and categorical these feelings,” she says.

On the celebration, dad and mom stand towards the partitions, smiling as their kids snicker and play regardless of having endured a lot at such a younger age.

Amongst them is Anna Bolharska, a 32-year-old mom of two. Her father-in-law was killed and her brother-in-law was injured in the course of the occupation. Within the spring of 2022, she and her kids fled Izium amid relentless shelling, solely returning after Ukrainian forces liberated the town in September that yr.

“I don’t like to recollect these instances. We attempt to transfer ahead as a result of dwelling on it’s too onerous mentally,” Bolharska says. “We attempt to not remind the youngsters and to maintain them distracted.”

Her 9-year-old daughter, Myroslava Bolharska, goals of turning into a veterinarian. In her letter, she requested for a guitar.

“Throughout the warfare it appears everybody’s goals have modified — to want for the warfare to finish,” she wrote.

The reindeers’ winter journey will take them to over 40 cities within the coming weeks. They hope to appreciate many goals and produce pleasure to the youngsters, though a few of their needs are unimaginable to satisfy.

“Some kids wrote of their letters that they need their childhood again,” undertaking co-founder Inna Achkasova says, including that the reindeer volunteers goal to make sure that each baby feels seen, heard and beloved.

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Related Press journalist Hanna Arhirova contributed to this report in Kyiv, Ukraine.

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Observe AP’s protection of the warfare in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine