A UNICEF spokesperson has revealed the horrors Ukrainians are facing every day as the war with Russia reaches the six-month mark.
This week also marks 31 years of independence for Ukraine and locals celebrated with a surreal display of burnt-out Russian tanks and armour laid out as war trophies in central Kyiv.
After six months of war, thousands of deaths and millions of Ukrainians fleeing their country, UNICEF global spokesperson James Elder told AM from Ukraine the humanitarian effort has been "mind-boggling".
"The number that sticks in my head that I feel and see every day is that two out of every three Ukrainian boys and girls have had to flee their homes," he told AM co-host Melissa Chan-Green on Wednesday.
"An entire nation, that six months ago was chugging along like many others, two out of every three boys and girls, usually under bombardment, certainly saying goodbye to their father has had to flee their homes. That's what Ukraine looks like right now."
Elder said the vast majority of the millions of people who fled Ukraine haven't returned and with the European summer winding down, UNICEF is turning its focus on a massive push on education over the coming months.
He told AM about the "heartbreaking" stories he sees on a daily basis because of the invasion.
"Part of what we see, which is so heartbreaking, are those children hit by war. I saw a little boy yesterday, Artyom, who's 10 years old, who was hit by a cluster munition. Now he's had months and months of surgeries and he's still fighting for life," Elder said.
"There are hundreds of children like that and hundreds who don't make it, but there are hundreds of thousands who have wounds that we don't see, and that's trauma. So opening schools up here in Ukraine or neighbouring countries for Ukrainian refugees, that's really critical."
Elder said hospitals are only just coping across the country as they never know when they'll come under bombardment from Russia.
But coming from that bombardment are heartwarming stories of Ukrainians going above and beyond to help their fellow citizens.
"I think they [hospitals] continue to function on the back of two things and in order of priority. One is Ukrainians, just this incredible drive, they've got selflessness," Elder said.
"I met a doctor .... she's the mum of an 11-year-old and a four-year-old, she saves lives. She comforts mums when they lose their children. She's a psychologist and her husband is on the frontline. You talk to her and she's very matter of fact about it, this is what she's doing. She doesn't stop to think, these are her people, where else would she possibly be."
As the war continues to tick on, Elder fears it might become an afterthought for many, which would be to the detriment of the Ukrainian people.
"Ukrainians are very savvy as well, they know the longer this war goes on, the more chance it has of falling off everyone's radar," he told AM.
"It's when you're on the ground and you meet that doctor I met yesterday, or you see a mother who is doing everything she can to keep her child afloat because she's separated from her husband, that's when you realise that Ukrainians will keep doing everything, but they still are going to need that international support because they are under a very fierce bombardment every single day."
As the war reaches its six-month anniversary, one expert believes diplomacy seems off the table for both countries.
"The Ukrainians are in no mood to concede territory for some sort of diplomatic deal, and recent developments suggest Ukraine is becoming bolder in its counter offensives," University of Otago's international relations professor Robert Patman told Newshub Late host Ingrid Hipkiss on Tuesday.
"Recently, the Russian Government has experienced missile strikes in Crimea .... it's difficult to predict what will happen. I'm personally sceptical it'll go on for too long because I don't think the Russians have the economic carrying capacity to go on for much more than maybe another six months."
Watch the full interview with James Elder and Robert Patman above.
