War in Ukraine

• What do you understand about the war?

Many young people had no idea why the war was happening at all. There was discussion about the nature of democracy in the are and Russia and thought on a ‘Land Grab’. There was some understanding of Putin being unhappy with Ukraine wanting to join NATO.

Participants felt there was a lot of mis-information on social media including ‘Fake Tik Toks’ and a lot of ‘fear mongering’.

• How does this conflict differ from others?

It was felt the this was a closer or more ‘Western War’ than previous conflicts young people have any experience of. Other conflicts have been going on for a long time and aren’t always in the news.

There were real concerns that the conflict could escalate and involve the UK directly. There is a potential for nuclear war and World War 3.

There was a significant impact on resources including energy.

• What do you think we could be doing more?

Young People felt compassion for the people in Ukraine and Russia but hard to express how this crisis impacts on them.

When asked about how we can help further, some felt we should do more. These included sending troops in, equipment but some said that we have our own problems in our own communities, and we should be doing more to help our own. This really split the young people.