site.btaUkraine War Horrors to Be Shown in Sofia Exhibition of Photos and Children's Drawings

Photos and children's drawings showing the horrors of the war in Ukraine will be displayed in an exhibition titled "We Stand with Ukraine!", to be staged at Sofia's New Bulgarian University (NBU) between April 24 and 30.

The exhibition will be unveiled by NBU Rector Plamen Doinov, Ukrainian Ambassador to Bulgaria Olesya Ilashchuk and Sofia Security Forum (SSF) President Yordan Bozhilov.

The drawings were created by Ukrainian kids who participated in the PAINT.UA.WAR International Art Festival, organized by the Kyiv-based ADRUM Association for the Development of International Relations. "A Ukrainian Field in Flames", "I Want to Go Home", "Under the Wing of an Angel", "Ukraine Must Live On" - the titles of the drawings sum up the experiences of their young authors in a very straightforward way.

The photos show the destruction of civilian infrastructure, including homes, libraries and schools, and take a glimpse of bomb shelters full of children and women. Some of the photos were taken by Oleksandr Baron, a Bessarabian Bulgarian artist based in the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa and a member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, who has established a counter-propaganda news channel called Bessarabian Front.

Bozhilov said: "The exhibition provides a more general perspective on what is going on in Ukraine by showing how the war undermines the whole European security architecture and strongly impacts children's minds and perceptions."

The event has been organized by the SSF in collaboration with the Atlantic Association of Officers in the Reserve and the embassies of Ukraine and the United States in Bulgaria, with the support of the NBU.