Play and therapy pool ease trauma for Ukrainian refugee girl in Poland

Ukrainian refugee Alexandra Zhuravel, 38, holds her daughter Alevtina Bravorichenko-Crane, 8, in their bedroom at the Benedictine Sisters Monastery, which has welcomed refugees amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Jaroslaw, Poland, March 22, 2022. "I really did not want to leave because my son was still at home but the priority was to save Alevtina as she is a special child." Zhuravel said. Her 18-year old son was a student before Russia's invasion on February 24 and remains in Ukraine. "He said 'Mother, how will you hide with Alevtina? Alevtina is afraid of sirens, Alevtina is afraid of everything'." REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Alevtina is all smiles as she cuddles her mother Alexandra Zhuravel in their bedroom at Poland's Benedictine Sisters Monastery, a world away from Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine.

Her joy in that moment masks the fear she shows each time the tranquillity around the 17th century monastery where she, her sister and her mother have found refuge is broken by a loud noise from a car or an aircraft overhead.