Okhmatdyt: how Kyiv residents turned tragic day into bright one
Obviously, the July 8 attack on Kyiv, which destroyed the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, should have created a sense of panic and catastrophe in the hearts of Ukrainians. But instead of hiding in the corridors and being afraid, Kyiv residents spent a day clearing the rubble from the hospital, demonstrating something as close in spirit to what happened on the Maidan in 2014.
-"Inka, don't tell me you're doing what I'm doing?
-"Yeah, I'm trying to keep these amazing sounds in my memory.
Two policewomen stand on the steps of the Lukyanivska metro station and look at the broken roofs of the houses.
The sounds they want to record are the wailing sirens of ambulances and the scraping of utility workers' brooms on broken glass. What they can't record is the specific smell of spot burnt that can be smelled from the underground.
Smoke is still billowing around, but a spontaneous market continues to trade below the stairs.
-"Man, take the whole box, there are six kilograms in it. I'm not lying. The currants are like the sun. I was unlucky enough to sell today. Girls, take some raspberries. At least eat something tasty, since it's such a day," the young saleswoman flogs a box of currants at the uncle and looks at the new "victim".
Zucchini and asters in litre jars laid out on the asphalt look absolutely surreal here today.
-"Will we make it to Okhmatdyt like this?" asks a young couple.
-"Theoretically, you should," the policewoman replies.
The closer the hospital is, the bigger becomes the crowd that moves there.
There is a queue outside Fora. Men pull packs of bottles in turns.
Another couple is pulling a cart that is loaded so heavily that the girl is constantly being leaned to one side.
It seems that by the first day, half of Kyiv had already gathered at the children's hospital.
***
In the midday sun, he walked through the crowd, seemingly in a haphazard way, tiredly wiping sweat from his forehead. His white suit was covered in blood, his hands were bandaged, his elbows were bruised, and there was a bloodstain on his back near his heart.
He was one of the dozens of doctors at Ohmatdyt, which was destroyed by the Russians today. Perhaps he was one of those who stood with a scalpel in hand on the sixth floor in the operating rooms when a Russian missile hit the toxicology department.
-" We were in the operating rooms when it happened. You just realize that the windows are falling down around you, but you can't take the child out from under the knife when he is bleeding and quickly complete the operation," says nurse Inna.
-So you were in the operating room during the explosion?
-Yes. Luckily, we had just a couple of minutes left before the end of the operation," my interlocutor smiles wearily.
Usually, when the air raid alert starts, patients and parents are asked to go down to the shelter. "But you know how moms are, they think nothing will happen. We go, we insist..., but...," the nurses complain.
However, considering the fact that only 20 people were injured, including seven children, the hospital still followed safety rules.
Viktoriia, whose son recently underwent a bone marrow transplantation, was having breakfast with him in the kitchen. At one point she heard an explosion, then everything went dark. She went down to the shelter with her son.
"It was very dark there, the children were screaming, my son was very scared," the woman told reporters.
Within half an hour, as soon as the place of the strike became clear, the hospital yard was filled with volunteers. Hundreds of people rushed to clear the rubble and pull people out.
The first to be pulled out was a young doctor, Svitlana Lukianchuk.
By three in the afternoon, Kyiv residents, who resembled a large anthill, were able to completely clear two floors of the old hospital building and part of the new one. Lined up in ten-meter-long chains, people passed from hand to hand the remains of window and door frames, iron frames, and glass.
- People, who need gloves and masks, take them in boxes. Don't forget, there is a lot of glass. If you want to have a snack, let me clarify - not lunch - come here. Sandwiches and water have already been brought.
Water. Even a kilometer before the hospital, you could see people putting large bags of water on the sidewalks, and then men carrying them to the hospital. Some were carrying diapers, napkins and cookies. But there were much fewer of them. But the water - by the evening, there were kilometers of bottles near the hospital, which became a kind of symbol of the indifference and mutual assistance of Kyiv residents.
Even in supermarkets in Pechersk, which is quite far from the scene, cashiers told us that today they had record sales of water. Everyone wanted to get involved in some way. Everyone from random travelers to the Israeli Frida volunteered.
When the soldiers with shovels were just approaching the hospital, the volunteers were already cleaning the upper floors with brooms.
-"I came here almost immediately, realized that there was nothing like this here, ran to the nearest repair shop and picked up some of this stuff," says Oleh, who looks about 25 years old.
-Could you let me use your phone?
-Yes, of course.
-Don't pick up. Probably phone battery is low..
-And what should I say if he calls back?
-That Misha said we were meeting at the place where we were supposed to. We've almost sorted everything out," Misha gestures towards the flowerbed, which is almost invisible because of the people sitting or lying there.
-"Mykolaiovych, come here, let's take a photo of us doing something here too. Where you put your girlfriend (shovel), bring her into the frame. Let us have this memory, damn it," the utility worker pats her colleague on the shoulder.
-Lialia, do you want some water? Drink up, dear, you're hot too.
Lialia is a big white and red dog lying under a deer made of cypress and does not understand what the hell is going on around her. She takes two sips of water from a glass held up to her nose and then rushes into the crowd, where the toxicology department is still being extinguished.
"Lialia, where are you going, you'll either get trampled on or you'll bite someone in fright," a woman rushes after the dog.
Ambulances are slowly driving between the glasses and people on the narrow entrances to the buildings.
-"I'm not going to tell you anything, because we're just waiting to pick up the patients," says a doctor who still stands out among the others because of his white coat.
Two hospital workers are carrying a gurney past him, which is full of bags of medicine.
-"Ivan, do you remember where to take it?
-To the main exit.
The gurney is quickly taken away from Ivan, and he moves the rest of the surviving items in a wheelbarrow.
-"Ira, tell the mothers who have packed their things to go down," a young doctor says through the door, "You know, this is oncology, and it's the most difficult place to collect all the things".
It is the footage from these benches, where mothers with children and drips are sitting, that has been sharing the world today.
Nearby, another doctor, actually the head of the Cancer Institute, Oleksandr Yatsyna, is instructing the drivers.
-"Guys, you are taking doctors to the Cancer Institute. You drive into the central gate, go around to the right and say that you are going to the first surgical building.
-"I have only four seats," says the ambulance driver, skeptically looking at the doctors with the "belongings".
-"So there are four of us. And medicines," the women say.
-"Children can be put in two by two, it just depends on how many clothes the parents have," the doctor explains.
Mothers come out of the building, embosoming their children. Behind them, their sisters are dragging 3-4 large suitcases.
-"We came to take those children for medical evacuation who can be helped. We have already evacuated 30 patients. There will be more, but we will take as many as we can provide," Yatsyna quickly answers.
At this moment, a young patient is being taken out of the hospital. She hardly moves and looks at one point.
A meter away, a young nurse in blue is standing, also staring at the same spot. Small drops of sweat stand out on her temples, and mascara marks around her eyes tell of tear-stained eyes.
-"You had a tough shift, Nata," a colleague hugs her shoulder.
The sisters sit like shadows in the corridors that have already been cleared of glass, plugging in their phones.
Some of them just lean on the table and lie on it. Another 5 women are huddled in the nurses' room, hastily trying to eat something. When someone looks into the room, they look like children caught stealing candy.
- Girls, where are the bananas? The guys from upstairs asked me to bring some snacks?" asks a man covered in a thick layer of dust.
-"In the other room, down the hall," the nurses answer.
There are no windows left in any of the rooms, the painted angel above the couch now looks frightened, and the toys left behind somehow resonate with photos of abandoned Prypiat kindergartens. A colorful umbrella hangs over the beds. In one room, all the appliances are laid out in a heap. It doesn't seem to be badly damaged.
Like a shadow, a mother with a baby walks down the corridor. The same one. You saw her.
-Guys, let the woman with the baby through.
-We are, but the rescuers told everyone to leave the building. So everyone out.
-Should we too? -the nurses ask.
-"And you," the SES officer says menacingly walking down the corridor.
-"At least let me go get my things.
The women drop their half-lunch and quickly go downstairs.
At six o'clock, Ukrzaliznytsia trucks enter the territory to take out the garbage. Now they, not the ambulances, take up all the space.
More than 600 children were evacuated from Ohmadyt during the day. The Cabinet of Ministers is looking for new premises.
-"Well, the windows can still be put in. But the ceilings cannot be restored so quickly," the nurses look at the new building with regret.
-And dammit, there was never a single soldier here. Only children! Is this the kind of peace they offer us?
The morning attack on 8 July killed 22 people in Kyiv. In addition to the destroyed Okhmatdyt, several other hospitals were hit. These attacks, as well as the daily bombardments of Kharkiv and Odesa, show that the only peace that will satisfy Putin is burnt soil.
Tetiana Nikolaienko, Censor.NET
