The fighting and violence in Ukraine is so prolific, hospitals are facing a deluge of civilians, often times arriving with wounds that are foreign to younger doctors. And much like in other conflicts, including in Syria, the Russians are targeting these medical facilities, so far damaging 279, and completely decimating another 19, according to the Ukrainian health minister.
CNN’s Jake Tapper visited one hospital in the western part of the country, where patients from the east and south have had to travel hundreds of miles to safely seek treatment.
Olga Zhuchenko survived seven bombs that hit her neighborhood in the Luhansk region, but now lies in a hospital bed and may never walk again.
“I have lost everything. I have lost my flat, my property, my health,” she told CNN via a translator. “We didn’t expect to see it. We always have counted Russians as brotherly people. We never hoped they will exterminate us like that.”
Nearly two months into the conflict, it’s become clear that attacks on civilian neighborhoods — like the one endured by Zhuchenk — are no accident, CNN reported.
“The facts lead to only one conclusion. The Russians are purposely slaughtering Ukrainians. Moms and dads, children, grandparents,” Tapper continued.
Meanwhile, American doctors have traveled to Ukraine, hoping to offer assistance and experience earned during their time in the Middle East.
“We wanted to share information from our experiences in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Dr. John Holcomb, the professor of surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told Tapper in the hospital.
So brutal are the injuries being sustained by Ukrainian civilians that local doctors are confronted with cases unlike any they’ve ever seen.
“The injury that we have now is unbelievable,” revealed Dr. Hnat Herych, the chief of surgery at a Ukrainian hospital. He’s seen an…
Source : cnn
