“Five Minutes of Happiness”: Austria Invites Ukrainian Nuclear Workers’ Children for a Summer Break

Austria has brought 30 Ukrainian children to the country for two weeks, in what the government describes as a chance to give them “five minutes of happiness.” The children are the sons and daughters of employees at Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

The programme is a joint pilot project by Austria and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Austria is the first country to take part. The initiative aims to give the children some peace while providing relief to their parents, who work at nuclear facilities during the war.

The children come from Chernobyl, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne and southern Ukraine, as well as from Ukraine’s nuclear authority. Their home regions include the areas where reactors are located and where nuclear sites have faced increased attacks by Russia.

Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger and IAEA chief Rafael Grossi spoke with the children during their stay. The visit places a brief period of normality at the centre of a programme shaped by the pressures facing Ukraine’s nuclear workers and their families.

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Five minutes of happiness