Children of the war. Doctors in Kharkiv are saving young patients

Serhiy and his wife have spent hours waiting in the intensive care unit where their 8-year-old son, Dmytro, is being treated. On March 7, a shell hit their home in Saltivka, setting the building on fire. It took 4 hours to extinguish the fire and the first 9 floors were destroyed, said Dmytro’s father.

“We were all at home. The shell flew straight into the apartment and exploded. Half the building was damaged, two entrances burned down. Things, money, documents…People were carried out in pajamas. My mother was injured, her ribs were broken, she has a bruised spine, she was stunned and had to get stitches. But my child suffered the most. The fragment passed a millimeter from the carotid artery. He’s now in intensive care.”

The family has no home to return to. Saltivka is being bombed non stop. Serhiy doesn’t understand why the Russians destroyed most of the neighborhood:

“The residential neighborhood with two hospitals is now a wasteland. There are absolutely no military structures, units, or depots around. We’re at the edge of town. But yesterday, and now again today, there is shelling in our area. Residential buildings and a school were targeted, too.”

Under the constant sound of shelling, surgeons in Kharkiv are saving children who have been injured in the bombings. Most of the medics have not been home since the war began. Right now there are two children in intensive care. One of the patients, little Vovchuk has regained consciousness and a nurse gives him water. 

 4 children have already received treatment for bullet wounds and injuries caused by mines, explains says the head of the City Center for Pediatric Neurosurgery Alexander Dukhovsky:

“One boy underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the brain. He’s already conscious and is slowly recovering.” 

Doctors spent a week trying to save a young girl, but her injuries were too severe, Dukhovsky added:

“Unfortunately, a young girl died yesterday. This is the first child we treated from Kupyansk, she came to us on the first night of the Russian invasion on our country. She had sever injuries to her lower body and extensive brain trauma. It was caused by a missile strike on a residential building.” 

Currently Dima, one of the young patients, is in critical condition. He has a metal fragment lodge in the base of his skull in the first vertebra, says Dukhovsky:

“It was a very difficult situation when he came to us. Yesterday he was in cardiac arrest when they brought him in. Now he is in a more stable condition. He can almost breathe on his own now. We are continuing intensive treatment to bring him to a fully stable condition, but we have to do so cautiously because the fragment is still there.”  

The child’s condition is currently stable enough for him to undergo surgery soon. This is an operation that will require a full team of surgeons. 

Anna Chernenko, Kharkiv, Valentina Troyan, Hromadske Radio