“He was hit by a shell fired by the so-called liberators. I was by his side,” said Andrew, 48. “We tried to take him to the hospital, but he died on the way. He left behind three children “. Now, Andriy has to inform Dmitri’s children, aged 7, 9 and 15, about their father’s death. “I wish all those responsible for this war, who are attacking our weak, a country that has never harmed anyone, (should) be cursed forever,” Andri said. “These are not humans. They are not even animals.” The Russian invasion of Ukraine has taken a heavy toll on the lives of civilians, with Russian bombs destroying villages and homes, schools and hospitals. Russian President Vladimir Putin insists his troops are only targeting military installations. But the steady stream of victims arriving at Brovary Central Hospital in Kyiv told a different story. It is the only hospital near the recent fierce fighting east of the capital. “Every day brings new patients with injuries,” said Dr. Jaroslav Zraitel, 37, an orthopedic surgeon at the hospital. “We did not expect it and there is nothing we can do about it. All we can do is try to sleep and eat between operations. Every day we live here, day and night we are here.” Zraitel’s team is now accustomed to surgery, despite the thunder of nearby explosions. “(On) the first week, we hid for several hours when we heard the explosions,” said Gratiel. “Now we just wait to hear the siren and if there are no explosions then we just continue our work.” While living and working in the hospital, Zratiel’s wife and children have been evacuated to a town called Rivne, in the relative security of western Ukraine. “It is still difficult when there are a lot of injured, especially children,” he said. “Everyone’s morale is starting to be affected, not to mention that we are physically damaged.” Now, evacuations have begun from villages east of Kiev, but by the time they reach the hospital, many of them have been seriously injured for days without treatment. “There are people who have been injured for a day, two days or even a week,” said Gratiel. “We even had people sitting in the basement for 10 days with such wounds and tying their own legs.” Vasyl Khilko, a builder, had to hide in a basement in his village in eastern Kyiv for two days after being amputated in the right leg by a drunken Russian soldier with a stolen shotgun, his family said. “We started to stop the flow of blood and provide first aid,” said Zina’s wife, 62, adding that they were lucky as a trained midwife and their neighbor nurse. “We put on a splint, injected antibiotics, (and) pierced the wound.” Russian troops occupied their village on March 8, Zina said, and seeing them up close showed the chaos and despair in the ranks. They looted their homes for clothes, food and alcohol and often got drunk and abused the residents. “They were wearing my women’s coat, my hat, my boots. They were wearing our clothes. They took our bed linen,” he said. They also stole their money and her laptop where she kept valuable photos of her grandchildren, Zina said. There was disagreement between the soldiers, Zina said, with three of them eventually sympathizing with the Khilkos and helping to evacuate them for medical help. Now, as her husband is in pain in the hospital bed, Zina regrets their decision to stay at home. “It’s just … horrible,” he said. “Why hadn’t I just left earlier? It would have been better if I had left without anything, but my husband was healthy.” The decision to stay or leave is what keeps families awake at night throughout Ukraine. But for the most vulnerable in society, they often do not have the resources or the choice to leave. Igor Rubtsov, who has been homeless for more than a decade, said he was hit by bombings when he was feeding stray cats and dogs on the street where he lives in eastern Kyiv. Originally from Russia, he came to Ukraine in 1993. “There was a sudden noise in the morning,” said the 48-year-old. “They started firing at Ukrainian positions. I just had time to run.” He was hit in the leg by the bombing, he said, and fell to the ground as fighting continued around him. “Thank God I fell, otherwise my head would have fallen,” he said. Rubtsov said he had to walk about a mile (1.5 km) with his injury before finding help. “It was so fast,” he said. “I fell, it was difficult, I felt dizzy. But I had to get to the ambulance somehow. I did not want to die.” As those with life-changing injuries begin their journey to recovery, the Mulyar family has only mourning ahead of them. They also have to decide whether to stay in their village with the bees they are keeping or to evacuate to a safer place. “I will talk [my brother’s] woman, and if she wants, I will take them out “, said the brother, Andriy Mulyar. He said people should use their family history as a warning to take action. “I call on all of Europe to help the people of Ukraine,” he said. “Help as much as possible. (The Russians) are not going to stop here, God help us.”
