Roksolana Pyrtko on the role of business in supporting children during the war
According to UNICEF, the full-scale war in Ukraine has affected the lives of more than 7.5 million children. In many families, children are facing new challenges — instead of play and development, they encounter anxiety, displacement, limited opportunities for socialization, and the inability to feel safe.
Since February 2022, more than 2,520 children have been killed or injured as a result of hostilities — and these are only the cases that have been verified. According to the organization, schools, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure often become targets of attacks, directly affecting children’s access to education, medical care, and stable environments.
It is estimated that about 1.5 million children are at risk of developing depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, many children have lost relatives or friends: approximately one in five children in Ukraine has lost a loved one to the war. This adds deep emotional strain and creates internal barriers to growth and adaptation.
Despite all the challenges, children need not only protection from immediate threats but also conditions for preserving their childhood — spaces for learning, communication, and development. The state often does not even attempt to fully provide for these needs. That is why in Ukraine this responsibility shifts to other members of society. Among the most important are businesses, which have the resources, infrastructure, and ability to create safe places for children and support their initiatives.
The role of business in supporting children during the war
Today, business has become one of the few stable institutions capable of responding quickly to society’s needs. Unlike government structures, which act slowly and are often limited by bureaucracy, companies have greater flexibility and resources to create concrete solutions. For children, this means the opportunity to access safe spaces for growth, even during wartime.
Businesses that operate in the field of public spaces — shopping and sports-entertainment centers, educational and cultural hubs — play a particularly important role. These places already have the infrastructure where social initiatives can be integrated: exhibitions, sports tournaments, educational events. For children and teenagers, they become an alternative to school or extracurricular activities, accessible whether their families stayed at home or were forced to move.
This approach corresponds with what experts call the “existential” social responsibility of business. A study by MIT Sloan Review shows that Ukrainian companies during the war are transforming their CSR activities into life-essential social projects. Business is no longer perceived as an external volunteer, but as part of the societal response system, without which it is impossible to cover people’s key needs.
Of course, such a situation is not fair. Ideally, the state should be the one to guarantee children’s safety, conditions for learning, and development. But in Ukrainian realities, this responsibility falls on business. And although it is an additional burden, business often turns out to be the force that can actually provide children with a minimum of stability and opportunities for growth. If thanks to such efforts a child gets the chance, even for a few hours, to feel in a safe world — to play, to talk, or to discover something new — then the resources spent are justified. Because even a short moment of peace and joy helps children preserve the sense that life can be different from what the war dictates.
Why shopping and sports-entertainment centers?
Among different business formats, shopping and sports-entertainment centers have special potential for supporting children during wartime. They are already public spaces where people come not only to shop but also to socialize, attend cultural events, or relax. This makes them natural hubs for social and educational initiatives.
The infrastructure of shopping and sports-entertainment centers allows quick integration of projects that provide children with alternatives to disrupted everyday life: exhibitions, sports tournaments, workshops, festive events. For many families, especially those forced to relocate, such spaces become virtually the only available places where a child can feel relatively stable and safe.
Moreover, thanks to their openness, shopping and entertainment centers can engage partners — NGOs, charitable foundations, children’s agencies — and create systemic programs instead of isolated events. This allows commercial spaces to transform into platforms that genuinely support the community.
Examples of initiatives at Roksolana Mall and Spartak SEC
In our centers, we consistently integrate social projects aimed at supporting children living in the new reality of war. This makes it possible to unite cultural, sports, and charitable initiatives within accessible spaces.
Roksolana Mall
One such event was the photo exhibition Eye Contact. A Look in the Spectrum. The exhibition showcased portraits of children on the autism spectrum — students of the LEVCHYK SPECTRUM HUB, a space created by the Future for Ukraine charitable foundation. The exhibition had several meanings. For the children and their parents, it was a way to feel pride and acceptance, since thousands of mall visitors saw their stories and images. For the community, it was an opportunity to see the issue of acceptance and equal opportunities in a new light, to better understand the needs of children with developmental differences, and to break stereotypes.
Such projects are especially important during wartime, when public attention is focused mostly on military challenges. They remind us that there are children for whom support and socialization are just as critical now as physical safety. And thanks to events in public spaces, this topic becomes visible to a wide audience.
Spartak SEC
At Spartak, we regularly hold initiatives aimed at supporting children during the war. Among them:
- a charity exhibition dedicated to the stories of children affected by the war;
- wrestling tournaments organized by the Spartak club, helping young people develop in sports;
- a charity Children’s Day celebration for internally displaced children, organized together with Dante Kids agency (animation, science show, gifts);
- the My Hero Defenders campaign, where children received gifts for their drawings.
These initiatives show that even under difficult circumstances, shopping and sports-entertainment centers can be places where children find support, inspiration, and a sense of normal life.
Our position
Our experience shows: even simple events — an exhibition, a sports tournament, or a children’s holiday — can give children a sense of safety and return to them a piece of normal life. These initiatives may be small in scale, but they have a tangible effect: children gain positive experiences, parents feel community support, and society sees that the next generation is being cared for here and now.
For us, it is important that Roksolana and Spartak remain such spaces — open to cultural and sports events, accessible to families with children, ready to cooperate with charitable foundations and organizations. This is systematic work that we plan to continue, because we understand that in wartime it is no less important than the economic activity of business.
We also hope that these examples will serve as a signal for other companies. Business in Ukraine today has a unique opportunity to show that its role is not limited to commercial functions. The ability to support children, to create safe and friendly environments for them, is a contribution with a long-lasting effect that helps the entire country.
The future after the war will depend on how well we preserve and support those who are most vulnerable today. And if business can provide children with opportunities to grow and at least for a moment feel in a normal, peaceful world — this responsibility is worth every effort.
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