“It’s a tragedy, a catastrophe, terrorism,” denounce caregivers, traumatized after the attack on a pediatric center in kyiv

franceinfo returned to Okhmatdyt, Ukraine’s main pediatric hospital hit by a Russian cruise missile on July 8. This attack sparked international outrage and condemnation.

On Monday, July 8, a cruise missile struck the largest pediatric center in the Ukrainian capital. A medical facility in kyiv that treats children with cancer, chronic kidney disease, and serious illnesses. Up to 20,000 children were treated there each year. The bombing, which killed two people and injured at least 32 others, was attributed to Russia, which denied being behind the strike.

More than two weeks after the attack, Ukraine’s largest hospital for children with serious illnesses is still healing. One of the buildings gutted by the strike has been flattened. Piles of rubble are visible in places and workers are repairing windows blown out by the blast. “It was very loud, that noise still resonates in my head”says Katarina, a nurse still in shock. “Afterwards, there was smoke everywhere, we were completely plunged into darkness. The children started crying and we evacuated them” she says.

The staff returned to work, knowing they had escaped the worst. “Psychologically, I often have anxiety, sleep disorders, says the head of the plastic surgery department. I only realise now that if I had not run for cover when the siren sounded, I would probably have been one of the victims.” He denounces “A tragedy, a catastrophe, it’s terrorism!”

“I never imagined that a missile would fall in the middle of our hospital. Since then, I have lived in fear of another attack.”

Head of the Plastic Surgery Department

to franceinfo

The strike destroyed or damaged operating rooms like that of this doctor who was operating on a five-month-old baby. “The explosion caused chaos. The ventilator was damaged and stopped working. We found that the child was no longer breathing. This lasted for about a minute, then we found a manual ventilator, connected it to the child to ventilate him and he started breathing again. Today, he is fine.”

But the doctor was injured in the strike, and he took out his blood-stained coat to clear the rubble, looking for survivors or wounded. “I couldn’t do otherwise” he said. He is demanding that Russia be tried for what he calls a war crime.