I’m glad your country’s getting bombed

Yuliia Bond

The above is a screenshot sent to me by another Ukrainian mother just yesterday.

A school child was told: “I’m glad your country is getting bombed.”

Please stop for a second and imagine your own child receiving this message.

Imagine your child already carrying trauma. Imagine they came from war. Imagine they lost their home, their school, their friends, maybe family members, maybe everything they knew.

Imagine they have already heard air raid sirens, seen fear in adults’ eyes, seen destruction, displacement, grief, and then they arrive somewhere that is supposed to be safe, only to receive messages celebrating bombs falling on their country.

And before anyone says “this is just one incident” – no.

This is exactly the problem.

People do not see the full picture because most of this is never reported publicly. Families often stay quiet. Children stay quiet. Adults swallow it quietly because they are exhausted, traumatised, trying to survive, trying not to make trouble, trying to integrate.

But people working with communities see the pattern. Community leaders see the pattern. Schools quietly dealing with incidents see the pattern. Refugee organisations see the pattern.

And when family after family quietly tells similar stories – bullying, hostility, children being targeted, comments celebrating bombings, people being told to “go back,” fear in schools, people questioning whether they belong, families considering moving areas because they no longer feel safe – then we need to stop pretending these are isolated incidents.

Patterns matter.

Safeguarding matters.

And this is the part that frustrates me the most when we discuss far-right narratives, disinformation and increasingly hostile rhetoric.

People discuss this issue from political angles. Some discuss democracy. Some discuss elections. Some discuss free speech. Some discuss migration statistics. Some discuss whether certain parties are rising or falling.

But my biggest concern is something much more immediate and much more human: Who becomes the target?

Because the real consequence of hateful narratives is not a political argument online. The real consequence is a child becoming scared to go to school. A mother opening messages like the screenshot above. Families living in fear quietly.

Adults staying silent because they do not want attention, conflict or more trauma.

People losing trust in the communities they tried to rebuild their lives in.

What spreads online does not stay online.

Words matter.

Narratives matter.
Dehumanisation matters.

Burden

When people constantly hear that refugees are a burden, migrants are the problem, Ukrainians are no longer welcome, solidarity should end, or wars should be ignored because people are “tired” – eventually somebody repeats it. Children repeat it. Communities absorb it.

And then society acts shocked when a school child receives a message saying: “I’m glad your country is getting bombed.”

Really?

Are we shocked?

Or are we simply refusing to connect the dots?

And perhaps one of the saddest parts in all of this is that awareness itself has disappeared. Awareness has faded. Schools rarely speak about Ukraine anymore.

Media attention has moved on. But the war did not end.

The war is still escalating. People are still dying. Families are still fleeing. Children are still being traumatised. And now we are seeing consequences here too.

Patterns

So while politicians fight each other for headlines, elections, seats and power, I want to ask a very simple question: Who is actually going to protect vulnerable people?

Who is going to make safeguarding the priority?

Who is going to protect the children.

And who is finally going to stop pretending these are isolated incidents when clear patterns are already emerging?

Because from where many of us stand, vulnerable people are paying the price while too many still refuse to connect the dots.