This is more than kids “playing pretend,” as with so many others around Ukraine, these children have seen their village assaulted by military tanks and have family members who will never come home.
When kids are surrounded by war, it’s no surprise they act out what they see.
“We want to be soldiers when we grow up. We'll become army men," 6-year-old Valentyn. He told CBS News that he and his friend Andrii want to protect what’s left of their Ukrainian neighborhood after Russian forces destroyed most of it.
The boys have dug trenches, created missile launchers out of scrap pieces of wood and have learned to salute.
This is more than kids “playing pretend,” as with so many others around Ukraine, Andrii and Valentyn have seen their village assaulted by military tanks and have family members who will never come home.
Likely the biggest trauma of their young lives is played out in violent games of make-believe.
“Putin and his little soldiers should never set their feet in our town again. Our Ukrainians already demolished them,” the little boy said.
Andrii and his family hid in bunkers during the Russian invasion of their town outside of Kyiv. They were kept alive, but not protected from seeing the worst of what humanity can do.
