A  monastery in the western Ukrainian town of Hoshiv has been turned into a playground for a dozen war-displaced children and their families, hidden under the old beech woods of the Carpathian Mountains.

Sisters of the Holy Family Greek Catholic Congregation, 100 km (60 miles) from Lviv, have taken in 40 persons escaping Russian soldiers in eastern and central Ukraine.

Building the monastery following Ukraine’s early 1990s independence is a symbol of endurance. During the Soviet era, the village’s prior monastery was shuttered and the nuns deported to Siberia.