Ukraine seeks to trace thousands of 'orphans' scattered by war

Tanya, 12, who is autistic and does not speak, watches other children draw with chalk in a play area at a facility for people with special needs, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine, June 7, 2022. Tanya, like nine in 10 of the children in Ukraine's orphanage system, is a "social orphan" – children whose parents are unable to care for them or denied parental rights under Ukrainian law. REUTERS/Edgar Su

(Reuters) - Ukraine says it dismissed nearly 100,000 children from institutional care. With help from U.N. child agency UNICEF, it is still trying to reach some 26,000 of them.

At the Odesa Orphanage-Boarding School four months after Russia invaded Ukraine, an air raid alarm sent nurses in white coats hurrying residents into a basement beneath the kitchen. Among them was Tanya, a slight 12-year-old who favours a pink sun hat.