Meet Larysa Prudius

Larysa Prudius

[ region ]

Sumy

24 / 02 / 2025

Head of the Centre for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children

[ topic ] Recovery and Reconstruction

In 2023, the Centre for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children in the city of Sumy reached the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine, asking to support the construction of an underground shelter to accommodate children during the air alerts and shelling. Switzerland supported this initiative with 8.2 mln hryvnia's contribution. By August 2024, the main construction work had been completed, and preparations for internal renovation were underway.

However, on 1 September, a rocket strike hit the city, partially destroying the Centre and partially damaging the newly built shelter. Thanks to Switzerland’s follow-up support, the facility was able to restore its operations in several months. Today, it accommodates 26 children.

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We work with children in difficult circumstances. For example, children who have suffered from violence or abuse, or while trials for deprivation of parental rights are ongoing. Now, we have many displaced and evacuated children from the areas of active hostilities. Many children are psychologically traumatized. Those who saw how their homes were destroyed or experienced the death of close ones.

In 2022, after the start of the full-scale war and partial occupation of our region, we were evacuated with 42 children to Austria. But with the ongoing war, the number of children in vulnerable situations in Ukraine was soaring. And this number will only increase. In order to safely accommodate children in our Centre in Sumy, we needed a bomb shelter. I contacted the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine. For some reason, I was sure that Switzerland would help us. And so it happened.

The number of children in vulnerable situations in Ukraine was soaring. And this number will only increase.

We had planned to complete the construction of a bomb shelter by the end of 2024. But the missile strike on the city on 1 September that year changed everything. If it weren't for our bomb shelter, the building wouldn't have remained at all. The bomb shelter took the main blow of the explosion. But even with that, part of the main building was destroyed, part was damaged, windows and doors were knocked out, some rooms were ruined. And this time, Switzerland helped us with the reconstruction. We were able to open the Centre in December 2024. And now we have 26 children. We continue to restore the building and the bomb shelter.

Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine

Restoration work on the Center after the 1 September 2024 strike.

after

24 feb 2022

What else is Switzerland doing for Ukraine?

Switzerland has been assisting those impacted through various means – from humanitarian aid, humanitarian demining and financial support to granting protection status S to individuals from Ukraine seeking refuge. By 15 February 2024, the Swiss federal government had spent a total of around 3 billion Swiss francs to support Ukrainian refugees in Switzerland and people in Ukraine.

In 2022, Switzerland organised the first Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano and launched the political process to help Ukraine rebuild. The Summit on Peace in Ukraine, held in Switzerland in 2024, set up a path towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. In the longer term, the Federal Council aims to allocate 1.5 billion Swiss francs to support Ukraine's recovery efforts by 2028.

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