For more than a week, the Russian military has conducted intense missile and drone strikes on Kyiv, Ukraine, and its immediate surroundings, around the clock. Whether targeted or indiscriminate, many attacks have struck residential buildings, medical facilities, and warehouses for pharmaceuticals, food, and other consumer goods — in clear violation of international humanitarian law.
Between August 27 and September 3, at least 51 people have been killed and nearly 100 injured in the Kyiv region, according to the most recent reports by city and regional authorities.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) condemns the Russian armed forces' strikes on civilian infrastructure and residential areas. An MSF physiotherapy team is providing care at one of Kyiv's largest hospitals, including for a wounded survivor of a recent attack.
Patients need urgent stabilization
“I saw the ground shaking, I saw my own blood flowing, and I started crawling toward a shelter,” said an MSF patient who was wounded during a recent drone attack on a food warehouse, where he was working, in the village of Pohreby in the Kyiv region.
“I was on my way to a shelter and talking on the phone. I didn’t make it: I looked back and saw something flying toward me, and then I fell," the patient added. "The tourniquet was applied in time, and I was taken to the hospital. I was worried not for myself, but for my colleagues who were still inside the building.”
The patient sustained a bone fracture in his right leg and a torn tendon in his left, with lacerations from shrapnel across his body.
The patient is currently learning to walk with the aid of a walking frame and is also seeing MSF psychologists.
“It is very important to start rehabilitation as soon as possible and get the patient into an upright position,” said Maksym Riabokon, MSF physiotherapy supervisor, “because if a person lies down, they are at risk of muscle atrophy and congestive pneumonia, and the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract is disrupted. Our main task is to make the patient self-sufficient and independent, to give them the tools and help them as soon as they have stabilized and undergone surgery.”
The mental health toll of near-constant attacks
The air raid alerts and explosions, which have become almost constant in Kyiv and the region, are also affecting the psychological condition of patients.
“It’s very draining," said Lesia Martseniuk, MSF mental health supervisor. "People are trying to carry on with their work, but this sense of exhaustion is very noticeable, and people are getting more and more tired. Especially given that it is currently impossible to get around Kyiv normally: Bridges are being closed, and some metro stations are out of service."
"Patients tell us that their families are experiencing significant levels of stress," Martseniuk added. "School and kindergarten activities are disrupted during alerts, while parents worry about their children and their safety."
The sleepless nights are punctuated by the sounds of massive explosions, and the non-stop anxiety deeply affects MSF staff and their families in Kyiv. The whole of Kyiv’s society is suffering.
