(NewsNation) — Reporting on the War in Ukraine From thousands of miles away, the conflicts often appear as impersonal images of bombings, tanks and rubble. But behind them lie thousands of families torn apart, leaving behind a wave of orphans.

Katja was 13 when she and her family were rescued from the merciless Russian attack in 2022. Through an interpreter, their mother told NewsNation that they threw documents and diapers into two plastic bags and ran for their lives.

When the war broke out, Katja's father Oleksandr immediately volunteered for military service. He stayed in Ukraine to support the now famous Azovstal Steelworks when the Russians took control and captured him and thousands of others.

He would not see his family again for 622 days.

“She said there was no connection to her husband,” the interpreter told NewsNation. “But she said she believed all along that Oleksandr was going to be OK.”

Katya's family is now reunited. They are among the lucky ones.

There were reportedly 20,000 Civilian fatalities in Mariupol, Ukraine. Groups like Children's savings trying to save a tsunami wave of orphans.

“Every day more and more children are becoming orphans in Ukraine. There is no doubt about that,” said Kidsave Executive Director Randi Thompson.

Since the launch the invasionwhole groups of volunteers have traveled to orphanages and rescued hundreds of abandoned children every day. These children are not only faced with the daily search for food, but also with abuse by Russian sex offenders who exploit defenseless children.

“These children needed a lot of humanitarian assistance and support. But as the children are orphaned and placed in shelters, we're really focused on the fact that we can't wait until the war is over. We need to place these children with families if they're living in a facility. First of all, they're at a higher risk of being taken away,” Thompson said. “There's a lot of trauma, especially for the children. And they have no control over it, they don't know what's going on. And so they're dealing with this trauma of war on a daily basis.”

A miracle center high in the mountains of western Ukraine now serves as a central command center where the many children receive therapy and refuge.

“They are the most vulnerable because even for normal children it is incredibly difficult to endure all these horrors that war brings every day. But these children who live in such conditions have completely lost their sense of security. And they have no one to just hold them and tell them that everything will be OK,” the Kidsave director told NewsNation.

The Russian Offensive in the Kharkiv region The death toll has risen in recent weeks, with at least 30 more civilians reportedly killed by artillery shelling, rockets and air strikes.