War-weary Ukrainians seek healing nature in their vast national parks

At a training for Ukrainian park rangers in Hungary, Serhii Kubrakov, director of Desna-Stara Huta National Nature Park, lies quietly on a grassy patch, gazing up at a canopy of trees during a “sit-spot” exercise, a practice rooted in stillness and observation in nature. The park he manages sits just 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) from the Russian border in the north.

“There is shelling on a daily basis, and the area is full of mines,” he said. Kubrakov is among a group of mostly Ukrainian park staff, botanical workers, conservationists and educators who gathered at Hortobagy National Park in Hungary for training in “nature-informed therapy.” The program, led by U.S.-based therapist Heidi Schreiber-Pan, is part of a growing effort to equip Ukraine’s environmental stewards with tools to support trauma recovery in their communities.