Dreams for a better future keep hope alive

Andrii knows more about war than any ten year old should. 

"It's scary when a shell whistles,” says Andrii, who was born in 2014, the year the fighting began. “That's when you have to drop to the ground quickly. When a drone is coming, you have to run in a zigzag – that way, it has less chance of hitting you.”

Run to the nearest bus stop, he advises, because in Kherson, there can be concrete shelters or protective blocks nearby. However, each second can make the difference between life or death. 

"Often, an attack starts first, and only then does the alarm sound," he adds. 

Kherson is on the front line, and shelling occurs here almost daily. But the southern city is still home to more than 60,000 civilians, according  to local authorities. A significant number of them are children who, for three years since the full-scale war broke out in 2022, have had to live without schools, kindergartens or even a safe space to play and be with friends outside.

Andrii has lost his father and experienced the extreme danger and stress of being close to attacks over the past three years. Yet, this energetic boy always finds the strength to see the world anew, support his mother and pursue his dreams – of which there are many.

Andrii’s life would have been very different, if not for war.

"I could have played football professionally,” he says. “I could have gone to school. My city, Kherson, wouldn't have been destroyed, and I wouldn’t have to worry about my grandmother in Kharkiv or my other grandmother in Zaporizhzhia.”

He has lived in Kherson all his life with his mother and older brother. Despite insecurity since 2014, Andrii’s school fully closed after the start of the full-scale war.

"I only sat at a school desk for three or four months,” he recalls, sadly. “Then the quarantine [COVID-19] started and, after that, February came and the war." 

Only a few students from Andrii’s class remain. Lessons now take place on a tablet in his bedroom.

"Back when we were still going to school, there were many more of us,” he explains. “But everyone has left – some went to Germany, some to Poland."

Andrii still remembers what it feels like to sit at a classroom desk and interact with a teacher in person, rather than through a screen. Recently, he attended a children's educational camp in western Ukraine for three weeks. Now, he dreams of going to school in Kherson again.

"At the camp, there was this small school,” says Andrii. “I talked to people there, went to lessons, ate in the canteen. I really liked it. It was autumn then – everything was so yellow, so beautiful, just amazing. Now I want to go to school again.”

Football gives Andrii some relief and time to be with other children but it comes with danger. Every weekend, he meets his friends on the field near his home to play. But when explosions ring out, followed by the air raid siren, they run for cover. A sign on the wall of the shelter warns: "Drone flight range – up to 25 km. This means there is no absolutely safe place in Kherson!"

“I heard something flying”

Andrii does not ignore these rules, having had several brushes with danger. 

"I was playing here, not far from home, with my friend Platon, and a stray dog was circling around us. It started barking and I heard something flying. I looked up at the sky and there was a drone swerving. I ran immediately. I was running, Platon was running and the dog was chasing me. I rushed into the shelter nearby, Platon fell but then made it too. The drone suddenly went silent, and then – boom – an explosion.”

Andrii's father, who passed away last winter in a car accident, helped teach him the rules of staying safe under fire.

"I really don’t like living without Dad,” says the boy. “But Mum does everything for me, she tries to make sure I’m okay. And I try to support her in return.”

After the accident, Andrii’s mother spent several months in hospital, while he and his brother stayed with their grandmother in Zaporizhzhia. It was there that Andrii learned to play football and started listening to his father’s favourite music.

"It was a tough time,” Andrii recalls. “I became interested in the bands my dad loved, searched for them on TikTok. And I liked them. Now I dream of saving up money for a guitar and learning to play it.”

The war has also impacted his love for football. 

"If there were no shelling, we could play more often,” he says. “I could be in better shape. And if the war hadn’t started in 2014, I could have gone to Donetsk to see my favourite team, Shakhtar, play in their big, beautiful stadium.”

“You have to be strong”

Andrii hopes to become a State Emergency Service rescuer and help to save the lives of both animals and people.

"You have to study well, you have to be strong to hold a fire hose with powerful water pressure,” he says. “I don’t know if I can do it, but I will try.”

Recently, the family welcomed a new member – a dachshund named Monia. 

"After Dad passed away, Mum promised us a dog,” says Andrii. “And just recently, we saw that a little dachshund had been wandering the streets alone for a month. We went, took her in and now she lives with us. Our little Monia.”

For now, Andrii holds onto his dreams – for a better future that he can help shape for himself and Ukraine.

"I would like to stay in Kherson or move to Kharkiv when I grow up,” he says. “These are two beautiful cities that I love deeply. Before the war, the centre of Kherson was so lovely – so many people walking, cafés, lanterns, lights. I want it to be like that again."

Adolescence is a critical time for growth and development, yet for many teenagers in Ukraine, this period is marked by uncertainty and hardship. One in three teenagers reports feeling so sad or hopeless that they stop engaging in their usual activities. The lack of social connection exacerbates these challenges, as many schools near frontline areas remain closed, and frequent air raid alarms force students to spend hours underground.

The impact of war on education has been profound. Thousands of schools have been damaged or destroyed, and many students struggle to keep up due to displacement, unsafe learning environments, limited access to technology, and the psychological toll of war. 

Education is more than just acquiring knowledge, it is key to building resilience, critical skills, and hope for the future. UNICEF is working to ensure every child can continue learning by repairing and improving school shelters, providing essential learning materials, training teachers to address learning gaps, offering catch-up classes, and strengthening both in-person and online education. Because every child has a right to learn, grow, and build a brighter future.