Unbroken in Ukraine
Written By Arik Shraga
Ukraine never fails to surprise me. From the trip of January 2024, I brought back the memories of the sparkling eyes of young adults from Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Odesa. They explained to me that in 2023, a year into the war, something clicked in them that made them switch from being depressed, lost and frightened to being fiercely active. “We realized that the war isn’t going to end any soon. We’ve got only one life to live, and it’s happening now. We can’t let the war steal our youth.”
I was amazed by the atmosphere in Ukrainian cities being vibrant, lifeful, and unbroken.
See the pictures:
Odesa. Warm house
Odesa
Odesa. Hillel youth club
Odesa region. Larisa
Odesa region. Larisa with JDC aid organization representatives
Odesa region
Odesa. Bomb shelter in a basement
Odesa. Kids activities at Migdal center
Odesa. Migdal center
Odesa. Halah cooking class for kids
Odesa. A youth group activist
Odesa. Beit Grand community center
Odesa. Online Shabbat welcoming
Poltava. Youth club
Poltava. Youth club
Poltava. Youth club
Poltava
Poltava
Poltava. Delivering humanitarian aid
Sumy region. Delivering humanitarian aid
Sumy region. Larisa
Sumy. Day center in a bomb shelter
Sumy. Delivering firewood to a bomb shelter
Sumy. Aviv youth choir
Sumy
Sumy. A leader of a local charity organization
Odesa
Odesa
Kharkiv. Humanitarian aid distribution
Kharkiv
Kharkiv. A bombed hotel
Sumy
Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv. Community center
Kharkiv. Community center
Kharkiv. Community center
Kharkiv
Kharkiv. Humanitarian aid distribution
Kharkiv. Humanitarian aid distribution
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Kharkiv
Kharkiv. Community center
Kharkiv
Kharkiv. A homecare worker
Kharkiv
Kharkiv. Humanitarian aid distribution
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9906_Ukraine_landscape_003.JPG