Three years ago, on February 24, the world witnessed Russia launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine—another wave of aggression after eight years of war. For many children in Ukraine, those first days remain deeply etched in their memories.
Read some of children’s stories from the Musuem’s collection below:
Memories of the first days
I woke up to my mom’s crying. I heard her say, “Kyiv and Kharkiv are being shelled.” I didn’t understand anything.
Why was I awake so early?
Why was my mom getting dressed? She was putting on her military uniform and packing her backpack.
I was younger. I knew there was a war happening, but I didn’t understand what that meant. I imagined my country being hit by rockets, and I reflected that in my drawing. Those are my memories of the first days.
Sofiia, b. 2013, Zviahel
Tiger pajamas
We learned from the TV news that the war had begun, and immediately hid behind the couch in case the glass shattered. We watched TV with Mom and Rusik until Dad came home from work. We first decided to go to Grandma’s, and later, to Germany.
We went by train, and then by bus. I remember how we walked across the border at night, holding onto a blanket so we wouldn’t get lost. Before we reached the border, I fell asleep and someone had to carry me! These are my Tigger pajamas, which I was wearing on that trip. They’re too small for me now.
Kateryna, b. 2017, Kharkiv
Charging 24/7
Kharkiv is located forty kilometers from the border with Russia, and our position was vulnerable. It wouldn’t take much time for military vehicles to reach the city.
I knew that anything could happen. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, what reassured me was staying connected to the rest of the world. It gave me some (probably imaginary) control over the situation.
On the third day, they cut off the power for hours. When the electricity goes out, water and heating stop working. The worst part was that we had no way to communicate or gather information.
When the power was cut off, I forgot to put my phone in flight mode. Overnight, it almost ran out of battery. Ever since then, whenever my phone isn’t fully charged, I get anxious.
Until we left Kharkiv, my phone was charging 24/7. I sacrificed the battery, but it somehow made me feel calmer.
Yelyzaveta, b. 2005, Kharkiv
The invasion also profoundly transformed the work of War Childhood Museum Ukraine. Until then, the team had been documenting children’s stories in Donetsk, Luhansk, and temporarily occupied Crimea. Now, they faced immense challenges as the war spread across the entire country.
The Beginning of the Invasion in 2022: First Steps
While every team member was personally impacted by the war, the WCM Ukraine also faced a professional challenge: How should war experiences be documented while the war is still ongoing?
In response to the invasion, the Museum was forced to cancel an exhibition that had been traveling across southern Ukraine since early 2022. The exhibition had been presented in Kherson just weeks before the Russian soldiers occupied the city. The next destination—Mykolaiv—was not destined to happen. Additionally, the collection of children’s stories was put on hold for nearly a year.
Advocacy Abroad
Meanwhile, to raise awareness of Russia’s aggression and its impact on children, the Museum launched advocacy exhibitions worldwide. In response to the full-scale invasion, the exhibition LISTEN, centered on WCM’s collection of stories from Ukraine, was created.
LISTEN has traveled to six European countries—France, the Netherlands, Romania, the Czech Republic, Kosovo, and Serbia—being showcased at prestigious venues such as the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and the International Council of Museums (ICOM) General Conference in Prague.
Documenting Children’s Experiences During the War
Despite the challenges, documentation efforts resumed, and the War Childhood Museum Ukraine has significantly expanded its collection, incorporating stories from children across various regions as well as those forced to flee abroad.
Before the full-scale invasion, the museum had recorded 145 interviews. Today, its archive contains over 500 testimonies and 700 artifacts, making it the largest collection dedicated to childhood experiences during the Russian-Ukrainian war, which began in 2014.
Exhibitions in Kyiv
In 2023, the museum explored the idea of hosting pop-up exhibitions to better understand public demand within the country and to develop a thoughtful approach to engaging visitors—not only in learning about others’ experiences but also in reflecting on their own. As a result, an exhibition at the Polish Institute in Kyiv in 2023 featured the stories and personal belongings of children who were forced to flee abroad due to the war. Another pop-up exhibition in 2024, presented during the Crimean Platform summit, focused on the experiences of children from Crimea. Both exhibitions received positive feedback from visitors, leading the team to recognize that it was time to expand this initiative.
In the summer of 2024, the Museum opened its first comprehensive exhibition since the start of the full-scale invasion in Kyiv. Titled Out of Shadow, the exhibition featured 29 artifacts and stories, illustrating the diverse experiences of children from all over Ukraine, including those displaced abroad. The team sought to create a space for reflection and personal discovery, fostering a dialogue between visitors and those whose childhoods have been shaped by war.
Youth Documentary Theater
Seeking to go beyond traditional ways of representing children’s experiences and recognizing the healing power of art, the museum introduced an innovative project—engaging Ukrainian teenagers in creating a documentary theater production based on their own stories of growing up amidst war.
The play, Ozymi, was deeply rooted in the participants’ personal testimonies—stories of evacuation, displacement, education, relationships with family and friends, memories of a peaceful childhood abruptly disrupted, the deep sorrow of losing loved ones, and even moments of humor amid hardship. In 2024, Ozymi was performed at five venues in Kyiv.
Workshops for researchers
The Russian-Ukrainian war deems to be the most documented in modern history, as numerous civil society organisations—both from Ukraine and abroad—started collecting testimonies of various groups of society. The museum responded to this need by organising a series of workshops for researchers to showcase various aspects of documentation and working with memory.
Aimed at oral historians, museum staff, and researchers in the documentation field, the series of workshops emphasizes respectful and sensitive approaches to collecting narratives. More than 400 participants have registered for these workshops in 2024. This project not only builds capacity in trauma-informed documentation but also fosters a network of like-minded researchers, creating a platform for discussions on memory and documentation.
Continuing the Mission
As the war continues, the Museum remains committed to documenting children’s experiences, helping them process the consequences of war through storytelling, and fostering empathy across different communities in Ukraine and abroad.
