BALM AMID BOMBS

MEDICS WORKING IN UKRAINE RISK THEIR LIVES TO PROVIDE HEALING AND SUCCOUR TO INJURED COMBATANTS AND CIVILIANS

- NIRMAL JOVIAL

The Siversky Donets River divides two warring nations, separating southwestern Russia from eastern Ukraine. It meanders its way from the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows through Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk Oblasts—Russia’s initial targets in its ‘special military operation’ that began on February 24, 2022—and returns to its origin country. In the early months of the war, Russian soldiers had tried to cross the river several times but were stopped by Ukrainian forces. And so, the river continued to act as a natural boundary. Perhaps, that is why four children in Pryvilla, a town on the banks of the river in the Lysychansk municipality of Luhansk Oblast, were out playing even as the threat of a Russian attack loomed. Sadly, rivers do not wall up, and the children got caught in the shell firing that ensued when Russian forces crossed the river between June 28 and June 30 last year.

The Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital (PFVMH), a Ukrainian nonprofit of civilian health care professionals, was immediately notified and an evacuation team was dispatched to Pryvilla to transport the children—two boys and two girls. By the time the team arrived though, the boys had succumbed to their injuries. The older of the two girls, aged 12, showed remarkable bravery in leading her younger sister to a cellar. But in the process, the girls suffered severe injuries.