|
 "I am fine," came the barely audible reply. "Fine," the doctor
repeated loudly, satisfied by what he heard.
Medics said Vova was hit in the head by a bullet during fighting in
the first few days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, one of several
children brought into the hospital to be treated for shrapnel and
bullet wounds.
Kharkiv, which has close historical and social ties to Russia, has
seen some of the heaviest fighting since the war began on Feb. 24.
Ukrainian regional police official Serhiy Bolvinov said on Tuesday
that 170 civilians had been killed across Kharkiv region since the
start of Russia's invasion, including five children.
Russia denies targeting civilians and says its forces are engaged in
a "special military operation" in Ukraine to destroy its neighbour's
military capabilities and remove what it regards as dangerous
nationalists in Kyiv.
Ukraine and its allies call Russia's actions a brutal invasion that
has killed hundreds of civilians. Apartment blocks in Kharkiv and
elsewhere have been reduced to rubble, towns have been evacuated and
some 2 million people have fled the country.
At the pediatric neurosurgery centre of the city's main accident and
emergency hospital, eight-year-old Dima Kasyanov lay unconscious on
an intravenous drip with a tube coming out of his mouth.
His father, Sergiy, showed Reuters an X-ray image on his mobile
phone that he said was of a piece of shrapnel from an incoming shell
that had lodged at the base of Dima's skull.
[to top of second column] |
 "The shrapnel entered through the jaw and lodged
itself in the neck, at the top of the vertebral
column. It was yesterday. He is eight," he told
Reuters. The child's mother sobbed quietly next
to him. Sergiy Kasyanov said the
shell struck the family's apartment and everyone ran for safety. He
said his mother had also been wounded and was in intensive care with
broken ribs and damage to her spine. "But the child,
he suffered the worst injury."
Oleksandr Dikhnovskiy, the doctor who heads the centre, said the
unit had operated on four children with shrapnel or bullet wounds so
far.
"Sadly one little girl died yesterday. She was admitted on the first
night of the ... invasion of our country."
He said Dima's treatment would be complex.
"The surgery is very complicated from a technical point of view and
we are now stabilising him to be able to conduct the surgery."
In the surgery theatre, a Reuters reporter heard the rumble of a
distant explosion.
"This is how we work every day, conducting surgery under
bombardment," said one of the nurses.
(Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
