Contact Us

Ukraine's elderly are conflict's forgotten victims

The elderly are "often forgotten, very vulnerable" in times of war says Federico Dessi, the Ukraine director of the NGO Handicap International, a group that provides equipment and will financially help the Dnipro home. "Cut off from their families" and "sometimes unable to use telephones or communicate" they are particularly vulnerable in conflicts, Dessi said.

  • 11
  • 18
Perched on a bedside, her hands gripping a walking aid, Zoya Taran considers herself among the lucky ones -- that's despite having only one working kidney, precarious balance, diabetes and poor eyesight. That is because her rock musician son quit a career in "show business" two decades ago to care for her. "I am that elderly babushka," she says smiling. "My son is my eyes, my hands and my legs. I have nothing on my own."