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In a picture taken on Saturday, March 7, 2015, Veronica, lies on toys she has spread on the floor at a children's home, in Khartsyzk, Ukraine. A brutal conflict between Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian government troops has affected more than 1.7 million children on both sides of the front line, according to the UNs childrens agency, with some of them sent to orphanages when their parents got killed or went to fight for the rebels, while some parents gave up their foster children because they were no longer receiving benefits for them. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)(The Associated Press)

In a picture taken on Saturday, March 7, 2015, a doll lies on the floor of a children's home, in Khartsyzk, Ukraine. A brutal conflict between Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian government troops has affected more than 1.7 million children on both sides of the front line, according to the UNs childrens agency, with some of them sent to orphanages when their parents got killed or went to fight for the rebels, while some parents gave up their foster children because they were no longer receiving benefits for them. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)(The Associated Press)

In a picture taken on Saturday, March 7, 2015, Veronika stands in the doorway of the girls room at a children's home, in Khartsyzk, Ukraine. A brutal conflict between Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian government troops has affected more than 1.7 million children on both sides of the front line, according to the UNs childrens agency, with some of them sent to orphanages when their parents got killed or went to fight for the rebels, while some parents gave up their foster children because they were no longer receiving benefits for them. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)(The Associated Press)

In a picture taken on Saturday, March 7, 2015, Denis, second from left, along with other boys looks out from the window of a children's home, in Khartsyzk, Ukraine. A brutal conflict between Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian government troops has affected more than 1.7 million children on both sides of the front line, according to the UNs childrens agency, with some of them sent to orphanages when their parents got killed or went to fight for the rebels, while some parents gave up their foster children because they were no longer receiving benefits for them. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)(The Associated Press)

In a picture taken on Saturday, March 7, 2015, a child holds a cartoon book, at a children's home, in Khartsyzk, Ukraine. A brutal conflict between Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian government troops has affected more than 1.7 million children on both sides of the front line, according to the UNs childrens agency, with some of them sent to orphanages when their parents got killed or went to fight for the rebels, while some parents gave up their foster children because they were no longer receiving benefits for them. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)(The Associated Press)

KHARTSYZK, Ukraine Seryozha colors in his drawing of a tank, lost in thought. Like many 7-year-olds in eastern Ukraine, he has trouble recalling a time before the war.

"They've always been shooting," he says, vigorously scratching with the brightest of pencils.

Yelena Nikulenko, the director of the children's home in the rebel-held town of Khartsyzk, says kids like Seryozha have been let down twice.

First orphaned or abandoned by their parents, they were then dumped by their new families when the Ukrainian government stopped paying benefits to foster families in separatist-controlled areas.

"On top of that, you have the war, the shelling, the fear," Nikulenko says. "It will be a scar for the rest of their lives, that's for sure."

Excerpt from:
Ukraine's conflict stains innocence of childhood as adult hatreds seep into play