'I was forcibly displaced by Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine - I may never return home'

Children displaced by Russia's brutal campaign in Ukraine have expressed their hope to return home as they grapple with their new lives thousands of miles away. Liza Horshenina is just 11 years old but has already experienced the horrors of war. When she was just eight, her home city of Siverskodonetsk in the Luhansk region came under heavy shelling. Amid the chaos, her grandmother's home was destroyed, and with it, her beloved cello.

Her mother, Olena, fled with her young daughter to Berdyansk in Zaporizhia, nearly 350 miles from where they were living. On the very first day of the full-scale invasion, Liza's older brother, a soldier, ensured she and her mother escaped the city and made it to western Ukraine before they eventually moved to Kyiv, where they lived for a year and a half. In October last year, Olena moved her daughter and mother out of Kyiv because the constant air raid alarms and night-time explosions became too much to bear.

They now live in Germany, leaving behind the world Liza grew up in and hopes to return to one day. She told the Express: "I left my friends and everything I loved. Even when it was my birthday in October, I wasn't happy ... I didn't feel any joy because I had left my home.

"As for my return, I don't know. Maybe I will go when I'm grown up. Maybe even temporarily, to see, to visit, and to leave [Germany] for a while."

Olena tried to get her daughter back into music, but she refused. "It was painful to remember my old cello because it was burnt. I didn't want to talk about it or play it", she said.

However, after encouragement from her teachers in Germany, she's begun to play and enjoy the cello again with the support of her peers.

"Teachers asked me if I could play any musical instrument ... And offered me the chance to play it at school", she said. "Now I'm trying to like playing again, and they are very supportive, so I even enjoy it now."

After just one month of the war, more than half of Ukraine's children were displaced - a shocking 4.3 million, a UNICEF report revealed.

This included over 1.8 million who crossed into neighbouring countries as refugees and 2.5 million who were internally displaced inside Ukraine.

Many of these children are forced to flee without both of their parents, as men are required to remain in the country due to its conscription laws.

Earlier this year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said: "It is clear that Ukrainian children have endured a wide range of wartime experiences, all with serious impacts - some as refugees in Europe, others as direct victims, under continued threat of bombardment."

Sophia Ogagifo shares a similar story. Three years ago, the 16-year-old fled Ukraine for Switzerland, where she now lives with her mother, younger brother, and aunt.

The teenager said the move across borders was "very unexpected" as her family hoped to stay in Ukraine for as long as possible, still holding on to their "last hopes" that they would be safe.

"Of course I miss Ukraine", she said. "It's my country, and I still feel like I'm Ukrainian. It's not like I moved to Switzerland and forgot everything Ukrainian. I miss Ukraine very much.

"The first month here, I was depressed. I was crying the whole time and not talking to my family at all - just staying at home all the time. And that was just horrible ... A really difficult time."

Sophia has one more year of school to complete and then intends to find an apprenticeship or study psychology, though she is less optimistic than Liza about returning to Ukraine.

She said: "Now I understand that it's really, really dangerous in Ukraine. I haven't been there for a year, and I don't think it's a good idea to come back now ... I don't want to put my life and the life of my family at risk."

Instead, the 16-year-old does what she can to support her home country from over a thousand miles away by fundraising for children affected by the war and showcasing her culture.

"I know that in Switzerland I still have an opportunity to support my country", she said.

In March, three years after the conflict began, a UN Human Rights Office report exposed the devastating death toll of children not lucky enough to escape.

Between February 24, 2022, and December 31, 2024, 669 children were killed and 1,833 injured as Russia continued to use explosive weapons in populated areas.

Of these, 521 were killed and 1,529 injured in territory controlled by Ukraine, and 148 were killed and 304 injured in territory occupied by Vladimir Putin's forces. The actual figures are likely to be much higher, the UN added.