War and peace through the eyes of Donbas children – EUReporter

13:56 / 25 Feb. 2016 / 1946

On February 17 the exhibition ‘War and peace through the eyes of Donbas children’ was shown in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, a showcase of drawings made by children of the war-torn region of Donbas in Eastern Ukraine and of pictures of the region. The exhibit already was shown throughout Ukraine and was shown in Brussels for a day.

The exhibit symbol is the phoenix, a symbol of rebirth. Rebirth is the hope for the Donbas region, to be reborn from its own ashes after this war. The showcase arrived in Brussels after being shown throughout Ukraine. There, the support was always strong. There was a compact opening arms policy in Ukraine. In the exhibit, they showed message from young people all over Ukraine. The general opinion was a message of hope to Donbas, a message of unity for all Ukraine. Whether or not this represents the average view of Ukrainian people is not for us to say, but surely it makes a strong message of unity of Ukraine.

At the opening of the exhibition, there was both the organizers and the winner of the contest, 14-year-old Sofiya Sbytneva. Her drawing depicted a crying child with the Ukrainian flag in her eyes and Ukraine in her heart. Behind the child, an Ukrainian landscape before and after the war. The young Sofiya told us how she used her own experience as source material for her remarkable drawing. – EUReporter channel 22/02/2016