Brave children play with a burned-out Russian tank as war rages in Ukraine

A LITTLE boy and LITTLE girl playfully climb through a wrecked Russian armored car – proving that even the darkest of places can have innocent fun.

Another child sits on a burned-out military ship in the liberated Ukrainian village of Lukashivka nearby Chernihiv in a long-awaited sign of normal life.

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Russian troops were forced to withdraw Kyiv after defenders destroyed tanks and 2,500 armored vehicles.

It looks like the kids won’t be short of monkey bars.

Meanwhile, a desperate effort was made last night to secure the release of trapped aid workers Paul Urey and Dylan Healey.

The couple were on a rescue mission to evacuate civilians when they were being held 30 miles from a nuclear power plant on suspicion of espionage.

Paul, 45, from Manchester, and Dylan, 22, from Cambridgeshire, traveled alone to Ukraine and worked as volunteers, according to the British non-profit Presidium Network.

Paul’s mother Linda described his capture as her “worst nightmare”.

She said her son, a type 1 diabetic who could die without access to insulin, traveled to Ukraine about 10 days ago. She said: “I begged him not to do it because Russia is bad.

“I FaceTimed him until 4am on Monday morning and that was it – gone.”

When asked how she felt, she replied: “Like I want to die, like I don’t know what to do anymore. I do not know. It’s terrible.”

She said her son was “too caring” and “too kind”.

Sophie Goldring, who went to college with Dylan, said she’s been in touch with him through Snapchat. She said: “He wanted to go to Ukraine to help.”

Another friend, Allan Moore, 29, said Dylan was “just a boy on a council estate who went there to help.”

Dylan shared calls for donations on Facebook.

In his last message on April 16, he wrote: “Right now the fundraiser is earmarked for another vehicle so we can evacuate more people at once, but the fundraiser will continue and be adjusted to the needs needed at that time.”

Dylan is said to have been in Ukraine for at least six weeks.

The Presidium Network, which organizes relief efforts for civilians in Kyiv, said the men were driving to help evacuate a woman and two children.

Dominik Byrne, one of the network’s founders, said: “We want to tell the Russians that these are not spies. These are not military.

“These are just humanitarian workers who got into a dire situation.”

He said the men were mainly helping distribute medical aid and were also helping frightened civilians flee to safety.

International Trade Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “The Federal Foreign Office is doing everything possible to support and identify these two individuals.”

The Foreign Office previously said it was urgently seeking more information following the reports of British nationals being detained in Ukraine.

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