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Newsweek
30-07-2025
- General
- Newsweek
Minefields Over Minecraft—Ukraine's Youth Robbed of Childhood Innocence
Things are getting worse in Ukraine these days. The frontline feels like a giant game of Pac-Man as Russians try to gobble up remote agrarian villages where hardscrabble families eke out a desperate living. Here, for children living in these villages, the horror is unimaginable. Miles of newly dug trenches and "dragon teeth," strings of cable connecting pyramidal cement blocks designed to stop tanks and armored vehicles, create a haunting maze across once-prized and meticulously tilled farmlands between villages and towns. For children, red signs and flagging mark field after field mined by the Russians. We crossed these structures carefully, led by local leaders connecting us with the neediest children and families. With schools closed and classes only online, a Ukrainian girl takes part in arts and crafts, here making hand prints in the blue and yellow colors of the national flag, in a program supported by... With schools closed and classes only online, a Ukrainian girl takes part in arts and crafts, here making hand prints in the blue and yellow colors of the national flag, in a program supported by UNICEF and the Howard Buffett Foundation, on January 22, 2025, in Izium, Ukraine. MoreMy recent trip was my twelfth to Ukraine since the war started in 2022. As a co-founder of the nonprofit Common Man for Ukraine, I've been all over the war-ravaged country, providing food, critical hygiene items, and at the holidays, small toys for children. We also provide residential trauma counseling retreats to children whose fathers have been killed in the war. Our volunteer convoys have crisscrossed Ukraine's vast landscape from Lviv to Kyiv, Odessa to Kherson, and on my recent trip, Kharkiv and 16 small villages at the Russian frontline. I've joined our convoys across more than 20,000 miles on unmarked, abandoned roads, highways and dirt paths, providing food to children living in safe houses and orphanages in western and central Ukraine. I've hugged thousands of children hiding from Russian kidnapping and bombing. These children are secreted away in hidden safe houses where brokenhearted mothers and fathers sent them in hopes that these precious children—Ukraine's progeny—would survive the war. In a brief moment of calm, Common Man for Ukraine Co-Founder Susan Mathison (bottom right) sits with children at a safe house in a frontline Ukrainian village in March 2025, after delivering food, clothes, and... In a brief moment of calm, Common Man for Ukraine Co-Founder Susan Mathison (bottom right) sits with children at a safe house in a frontline Ukrainian village in March 2025, after delivering food, clothes, and Beanie Babies. More Photo Courtesy of Common Man for Ukraine Typical now, as we arrived at a frontline village the air alert sirens blared loudly. Our air alert app indicated ongoing threats. We could hear concussive explosions just beyond the tree line to the east. And yet, quietly, calmly, hundreds of mothers, grandmothers, old men and hundreds of children waited for the food we could deliver to them. Food, hygiene items, and toys for the children. Messages of hope, love, and strength from people they will never know. After most of our food had been delivered, I entered the village's abandoned school. Bright walls were painted with bright flowers that no children see. The soggy floor sagged below the gaping hole in the roof. Shelling? Windows were blown out and a curtain flapped languidly in the breeze. A child's tiny blue plastic airplane rested on a once-perfectly painted windowsill, covered now in broken glass. There was no electricity here. And no teaching. The chalkboards were clean and the chairs pulled neatly to each desk. And, in a corner, a brightly colored booklet caught my eye. A comic book. Simple enough, in Ukrainian, and, ironically now, a USAID logo at the bottom. A partnership between the U.S. government and the Ukrainian children's agency. I flipped through the book. The pictures told the story of these children's terror. I gasped. With this March 2025 humanitarian supply convoy to Ukraine's frontline villages, nonprofit Common Man for Ukraine has delivered more than 4 million pounds of food to the children of war. Their 13th convoy is planned... With this March 2025 humanitarian supply convoy to Ukraine's frontline villages, nonprofit Common Man for Ukraine has delivered more than 4 million pounds of food to the children of war. Their 13th convoy is planned for August. More Photo Courtesy of Common Man for Ukraine Tiny drawings showed the bear with the bomb hidden gently inside the bear's fluffy tummy, ready to kill the child who ignored the warning. Another image showed an unexploded ammunition and mine in a pile of leaves, warning kids not to play. "Among the branches, fallen leaves, and under the snow in Ukraine, it is difficult to notice a strike." What child has not aimlessly kicked up a rustling pile of fun? For Ukrainian children, it might cost them a leg or a life. The comic book that Susan Mathison found on a recent trip to Ukraine. The comic book that Susan Mathison found on a recent trip to Ukraine. Photo Courtesy of Common Man for Ukraine Another page showed red and white triangles, explaining that this means the ground around them is mined. A child running, carefree in an open field of grass? Not in Ukraine, it says. The Russians have mined the fields that once hosted your games and your family's livelihood. Simple drawings, a comic book. For the youngest child to understand. To try to survive. To remember every second of the day. Air alerts. Bombing. Teddy bears with bombs. Fields designed to kill. The terror felt by Ukrainian children. Children who struggle to make sense of the senseless. These children, the ones that survive, the ones that we hope will live in a free and independent Ukraine, will need our help for decades to come. We've begun the work already, delivering thousands of tons of aid, providing trauma counseling, and reminding Ukrainians young and old, that Americans cannot and will not give up on them. Common Man for Ukraine, a nonprofit that is moving mountains in Ukraine, proves that everyday Americans care. We'll return for our thirteenth convoy in August. Every child deserves a comic book with a happy ending. Susan Mathison co-founded the New England-based grassroots nonprofit in 2022, serves as president of her local Habitat for Humanity chapter, and retired after a 30-year career at the USDA Forest Service. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former state senator believes Ukraine can still end the war, if given right weapons
Former State Sen. Tom Brewer and Don Hutchens, a former head of the Nebraska Corn Board, survey a combine, provided by the Howard Buffett Foundation, that was destroyed by a Russian missile in Rivne, Ukraine. (Courtesy of John Grinvalds) LINCOLN — After his fifth goodwill and fact-finding trip to war-torn Ukraine, a former Nebraska state legislator and decorated veteran still feels that Ukraine can prevail in its war with Russia if given the right weapons. And former State Sen. Tom Brewer, who represented north-central Nebraska, said he sees a possible reckoning ahead for President Donald Trump in his dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin, he said, has never been truthful in his negotiations over the war, and his latest flirtations with peace talks may turn out to just be a delaying tactic to allow Russian forces to get organized for a summer offensive. 'There's a huge game of chess that's being played right now,' Brewer said in a recent interview. 'I think the next month will bring to light that Putin is not serious about negotiations, he's just buying time.' 'If you look at history, the Russians have never been honest about any of the negotiating they've done,' he added. 'Why would they start now?' Brewer, now 66, is at an age when most veterans are working on their golf game or heading out on a fishing trip. He's had more than 70 surgeries to repair war wounds and a bad back. The trip by plane, train, bus and eventually Toyota 4Runners in the dark of night is long and grueling, over roads pock-marked by missile strikes. But he keeps going back to Ukraine in part because he admires their freedom-loving spirit and in part because he feels his military experience — six tours of duty in Afghanistan and experience with artillery and helicopters — could help their war effort. Eventually, he believes he could also help the reconstruction of a country known as the 'bread basket of Europe.' On this latest trip he was accompanied by Don Hutchens, a retired head of the Nebraska Corn Board and a veteran of foreign trade missions. They set up a video meeting with University of Nebraska President Jeffrey Gold and Ukraine's ministers of agriculture and intelligence to lay the groundwork for possible collaboration in rebuilding Ukraine's crop production. Ukraine has lost more than 20% of its farmland since the Russians invaded, according to Alliance Magazine, and an estimated 139,000 square kilometers of land — almost twice the size of Nebraska — are suspected to hold land mines. Brewer said that in areas where the Russians had occupied, anything of value was taken and farm machinery not taken was disabled. Farmers are left using old equipment in hopes of growing a crop, he said. During his trip, Brewer visited associates of Howard Buffett, the son of Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett, who is on track to pass a total of $1 billion in private aid this year given to Ukraine to remove mines and provide new combines, planters and tractors. '(Buffett) has a really good team over there that is well-organized,' he said. 'He's probably more highly thought of than anyone else in the country. If he wanted to run for president he could beat out (Ukraine President Volodymyr) Zelinskyy.' Brewer also visited an orphanage under construction near Kyiv that has been supported by Ukrainian-Americans as well as a hospital where wounded soldiers are fitted for prosthetic limbs. An estimated 52,000 Ukrainians have lost parts of arms and legs in the war, he said, which has left possibly 18,000 children orphaned. Some U.S. military aid is still reaching troops in Ukraine, he said, but the elimination of the USAID agency has meant an end of food shipments to those living in a 'no-man's land' near the front. Despite the pull back of some American aid, the Ukrainians provided a warm welcome back, Brewer said. As after past trips, the former legislator will provide a trip report to the Nebraska delegation in Congress in hopes that makes a difference. On this trip, Brewer watched young Ukrainian soldiers, fueled by Red Bull and vape pens, guiding attack drones and was impressed by the capability of an artillery team unit that got only three week's training on guns the U.S. Army provides months of training to operate. He said that if he was 'king for a day,' the U.S. would provide more long-range missiles so that Russian forces could be moved farther away from the Ukrainian border to deter drone attacks and dropping of unguided 'glide bombs.' Tougher sanctions, Brewer added, could help squeeze the Russian economy to the point that they would give up. The former senator said he is sometimes 'astounded' about how long it took the U.S. to provide the weaponry that is needed. The sounds of drones buzzing overhead is a constant near the front, Brewer said, and the glide bombs, which cannot be detected by anti-missile batteries, have exacted a horrible toll. He said that this war could completely reshape Europe and the future of democracy, and it's important to stop Putin now, or else he will be emboldened to invade more countries. Brewer said he 'hates' the idea that Ukraine would have to give up valuable territory to end the war. 'The only way to defeat (the Russians) is to defeat them on the battlefield,' he said, 'and the only way to do that is give (Ukraine) the right weapons to do it.' 'Even though they've been through three years of war, and even though they've lost an estimated 100,000 civilian and military lives, their spirit is still passionate about staying free,' Brewer said. 'You're not going to see the Ukrainian people say, 'We've had enough.' I think they'll fight until they have nothing left to fight with.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
FactorDruk printing house in Kharkiv reconstructed after Russian attack in May 2024
The FactorDruk printing house in Kharkiv has been reconstructed after it was destroyed in a Russian attack on 23 May 2024. Source: Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Quote: "The FactorDruk printing house has been reconstructed. A year ago, a Russian attack destroyed the printing house in Kharkiv. I remember when Serhii Polituchyi brought burnt children's books – the same ones my daughter reads – and it just broke my heart. I still keep them as a reminder of Russia's attacks on our culture." Details: Svyrydenko noted that the printing house was restored with the support of the Howard Buffett Foundation. Background: After the attack on the FactorDruk printing house in Kharkiv on 23 May 2024, more than 50,000 books were destroyed, and at least three publishing houses were damaged: Vivat, KSD ("Family Leisure Club") and Ranok. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
