This issue explores the topic of wartime childhood. Through reportage, conversations, history, and art, it highlights the experiences of young people growing up in Ukraine today, and of the adults responsible for protecting these children from Russia’s genocidal policy. This unflinching look at the Ukrainian present poses urgent questions about our shared future.

Daria Herasymchuk provides a comprehensive and sobering account of what Russia’s invasion is doing to children. Demonstrating resolve and resilience, she describes Ukraine’s efforts to ensure the safety of children at home and worldwide.

Ukrainian children are a frequent target of Russian attacks on civilians. How do children wounded by the aggressor state recover from their trauma? How do Ukrainian parents provide support when Russia has made safety impossible? Diana Deliurman reports on Ukrainian kids who have endured injury, loss, rehabilitation, and made it back to childhood — transformed.

The glare of war forces carefree children to grow up quickly. Poems by Artur Dron’, currently serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and Maksym ‘Dali’ Kryvtsov, killed in the line of duty in 2024, illuminate the tenderness, resolve, and tragedy at the heart of Ukraine’s fight to protect the future of its children.

Adolescence under any conditions is traditionally a time of exploration and self-discovery. Sixteen-year-olds Daryna Rud from Ukraine and Emma Roberts from the UK reveal what they have in common, despite incomparably different experiences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: a sincere interest in their peers and in the world they share.

Iuliia Skubytska outlines the history of the Soviet summer camps Russia is employing in the mass deportation and re-education of Ukrainian children. Her overview shows how the complex legacy that Russia is exploiting encompasses infrastructure, ideology, and personal memory, and raises questions about the role of individuals in implementing state policy.

Highlighting the intimate relationship between cinema and political culture, Olga Birzul surveys the landscape of Ukrainian documentary films with young protagonists. Marked by sensitivity and commitment, this cinematic trend reflects the turbulent conditions in which Ukrainian children are becoming adults.