War in Ukraine: Organization provides children with flak jackets

It is not a boat tour or an adventure excursion that Mariana Chugunova is preparing her daughter for. The red glowing vest and a helmet are supposed to protect your child from the war in Ukraine. The family from Kharkiv fled from the Russian attacks in the east of the country to Lviv in the west. Mariana wishes she had had such equipment back then. “There was constant shelling. But the morning we were evacuated was calm. My husband said to me, ‘That’s it, let’s go. It was very scary on the road. I think if we had flak jackets it would be It would have been easier for us. If, God forbid, we had to evacuate now, we would have a flak jacket and a helmet, and I wouldn’t have to worry about my child.” Making military equipment for children raises mixed feelings among employees of the NGO Lviv Defense Cluster. On the one hand there is hope, says spokesman Anton Fedchenko. On the other hand, sadness that this is even necessary. Unfortunately, the enemy doesn’t care who he’s shooting at. “Nobody ever made body armor like this because there wasn’t a need. Our war is probably the biggest in Europe for a long time.” For the little ones, the helpers have to find a compromise between protection and weight, as club board member Maksym Pylokhov explains. “The protective vest weighs about two kilograms and is made of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, which is completely protected against pistol bullets and various small shrapnel or secondary debris – such as glass and concrete. The main purpose of these jackets is to protect children during evacuation from war zones.” And that would be urgently needed. According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, a total of 430 children have been killed and more than 800 by hostilities in Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24 more injured.