After Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, Ukraine lost the Crimean Mountains. Yet the Inner and Outer Eastern Carpathians in the west of the country have remained under Kyiv’s control – specifically, the significant stretch of the range that extends seamlessly into the Romanian, Polish and Slovak Carpathians.
Known as the Ukrainian Carpathians, this section of the Carpathian Arc stretches across four regions in the country's west. Covering more than 21,560 sq km, it is home to Hoverla (2,061 m), the highest peak in both the range and Ukraine.
It is in the heart of this mountainous wilderness that a unique project for Ukrainian children was launched this year. Young Ukrainian football players, who spend the year training under the constant threat of air raid alerts, Russian drones and missile strikes, are finding a rare opportunity to mentally unwind in the Carpathians.
A Quiet Beginning
The Betking Foundation, together with its founder Pavol Zurylo, has gradually involved dozens of talented Ukrainian children in the three-stage Royal Retreat project. Alongside football training, the children take part in recreational activities and, perhaps most importantly, have an opportunity to recover psychologically in the mountains.
Although Ukrainian media initially relied only on the foundation's press release, social media posts suggest the first group of children arrived on 10 June. The initiative received little media attention until late June, when the third stage of the program began and the foundation promoted it through a press release.
“This summer, 300 children will participate in the project. Among them are students from football academies, children of members of the armed forces, children from internally displaced families as well as children who have lost one or both parents as a result of the war”, the Ukrainian National Newspaper reported, citing the foundation’s press release.
Three Stages
On 30 June, the foundation published a video on YouTube in which former Ukrainian national football team goalkeeper Oleksandr Shovkovskyi encouraged the young participants, saying that success on the field also depends on taking care of one's mental health and well-being.
The first stage of the project featured the youth team of FK Oleksandriya, followed by children from FK Lviv and the Ternopil Football Academy. The final stage welcomed the youth team of FC Kharkiv, whose players were able to train without repeated interruptions from air raid sirens for the first time in a long time.
Alongside football training, the children also explore the surrounding mountains, a landscape many are seeing for the first time. Most Ukrainian children grow up on the country's vast plains, where the horizon stretches uninterrupted for miles, making a stay in the high mountains a unique experience.
A Different Kind of Summer Camp
“We can see how the children are changing after just a few days: they’re becoming more open, more self-confident, daring to dream bigger and believing more in their own abilities. That is precisely why we organized Royal Retreat—a place where they can draw strength for their big dreams”, Pavol Zurylo stated in a press release.
Children from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine are also being sent to summer camps. These, however, have a military-patriotic focus and are intended to strip abducted Ukrainian children of their national identity while raising them in accordance with the ideology of the modern Russian state.
It is estimated that since the start of the war, the Kremlin has deported or forcibly transferred nearly 20,500 Ukrainian children. According to the Council of the European Union, these actions constitute a serious violation of international law and infringe upon the fundamental rights of children with the aim of erasing Ukrainian national identity.