A pair of Ukrainian children were warmly welcomed when they arrived at their new school in Italy.
The students, who fled Lviv — a city in Western Ukraine located near the Polish border — received a strong show of support when they walked in together, according toCNN, which obtained footage of the heartwarming moment that was also widely shared on social media.
That day, “hundreds of teachers and students” at Don Milani Institute in Naples gathered together to greet Dimitri, 8, and Victoria, 10, according toMSNBC.
Footage shows the children walking into a room full of cheers and applause. Some of the students even carried the Ukrainian flag and there were also blue and yellow balloons hanging from the ceiling.
The children moved to Italy with their mom after Russia invaded Ukraine, CNN reported, citing Maria Barone, the school’s headmistress. Barone said their grandmother also lives in the Mediterranean country.
Since Russia launched itsattack against Ukraineon Feb. 24, more than3 million people have fledthe country, according to the U.N. Half of those who left are children.
“Every day, over the past 20 days, in Ukraine more than 70,000 children have become refugees,” the United Nations Children’s Fundspokesperson James Elder saidTuesday. “That’s every minute, 55 children fleeing the country.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free weekly newsletterto get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova said on Wednesday that at least 103 children have died and 100 have been wounded in the ongoing war,according toThe Washington Post. Although precise numbers have been difficult to determine due to the ongoing violence, her office warned that the death toll is likely much higher.
Most children were killed in the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson, the prosecutor’s office said, noting that Russian bombs and shelling have damaged more than 400 educational institutions, including schools, and that 59 of those were destroyed.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilian sites.
Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyyhas in the past few weeks called for peace talks — so far unsuccessful — while also urging his country to fight back.
Putin insists Ukraine has historic ties to Russia and he is acting in the best security interests of his country. Zelenskyy vowed not to bend.
“Nobody is going to break us, we’re strong, we’re Ukrainians,“he told the European Unionin a speech in the early days of the fighting, adding, “Life will win over death. And light will win over darkness.”
source: people.com
