24th February marks the first anniversary of the brutal and unprovoked aggression by Russia against Ukraine, a then-fellow Council of Europe member state. The devastation and destruction of lives and property across Ukraine sadly continues to this day and young people have also suffered greatly as a result. Due to the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, 44 youth infrastructure facilities were destroyed or damaged, with losses exceeding 2,5 million EUR. An additional 57 youth facilities are currently under Russian occupation with no reliable information concerning their status. The Chernihiv Regional Youth Centre’s fate illustrates the overall situation in Ukraine: it was destroyed after a Russian rocket attack in February 2022. The youth centre was in an architectural monument from 1939 - originally a cinema - and it regularly hosted a wide array of youth activities. Before its destruction, the centre provided services to over 240,000 young people (25% of the region’s population). Despite the immense difficulties created by the ongoing war, youth workers in Ukraine continued their work with and in support of young people. They got involved in humanitarian aid, provided help to traumatized young people and kept developing youth civil society to become more resilient in the face of the war’s impacts on young people’s lives. |