Traumatisiert und unfähig zu sprechen: Die vom Krieg heimgesuchten ukrainischen Kinder

***The Telegraph reports:***

In the Shevchenko family home, a grim nighttime routine has emerged. The whirr of the air raid siren sends the youngest of the nine foster children to their adopted parents’ bedroom. Alina, 3, hides under the blanket. Ivan, 2, sobs. Anatoly, 10, sits alone.

Artem, 11, Zhenya, 10 and Maria, 7, find it particularly difficult to talk because of the trauma from four years of [war in Ukraine](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/russia-ukraine-war/). After the siblings were abandoned at the start of the war, cockroaches burrowed into their ears and died there. They had lost most of their hearing by the time a doctor at a hospital in the central Ukrainian city of Kropyvnytskyi discovered the cause. He hadn’t seen a case like it in more than 30 years.

But the damage to the crucial feedback loop that helps children learn to speak was done. So after the long sleepless nights, the three stay largely silent.

The Telegraph spoke with 51 children in three regions across Ukraine about the [physical and psychological trauma](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/ukraine-russia-war-orphans-children-conflict-mental-health/) they’ve faced since Vladimir Putin launched his invasion four years ago.

Over the last five weeks, The Telegraph has heard stories of children self-harming, having night terrors, bedwetting, panic attacks, violent bullying, emotional outbursts and complete withdrawal from communication to the point of near-constant silence.

**Read their stories:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/02/27/traumatised-ukrainian-children-haunted-by-war/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_reddit_ukrainian-children-haunted-by-war/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/02/27/traumatised-ukrainian-children-haunted-by-war/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_reddit_ukrainian-children-haunted-by-war/)