In Kyiv, a double battle at the Okhmadet children’s hospital: “Before the Russian invasion, we were already fighting for our lives”

No offense to Vladimir Putin, Sasha will celebrate his birthday. This Wednesday, March 2, the boy celebrates his tenth birthday. His mother Victoria baked a cake and planned a musketeer-themed party. The surprise will take place in this neon-lit basement: the shelter of the Kyiv Okhmadet hospital.

This pediatric facility, which specializes in the treatment of leukemia, treats young patients from all over the country. On the sixth day of Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, as a 60-kilometer column of Russian tanks and military equipment rushed toward the capital on Tuesday, the hospital was preparing for war the same way it fights cancer. Without giving up anything, not an inch of your humanity.

It is impossible to meet Sasha’s gaze. Chemotherapy leaves him without immune protection. “A cold would kill him, no one comes closer than five meters to him,” Victoria sums up. We were already fighting the war of our lives even before the Russian invasion. Now there are two of us. » To resist, mother and son imagine a future “when everything is over.” “There will be trips and tons of Lego. Sasha will invent machines to treat diseases and meet his hero Elon Musk.

“If the hydrogen explodes during the bombing, it will be the end of us all.”

In the corridor, several pale bodies motionlessly occupy mattresses laid out on the linoleum. “These are children in the most serious condition, those who cannot be moved in the event of an attack,” explains Olga Stetsulk, head physician of the chemotherapy department. A cross hangs around his neck. This requires faith. She opens the curtain on the second floor. “Do you see this tank? This is hydrogen. » Gas saves lives in medicine. “But if it explodes during the bombing, it will be the end of us all.” »

On the floor above, apparently, Olga and Larisa are collapsing. Volunteers of the Tabletochki association came under heavy fire from six-year-old Kostya, armed with juggling balls. “Leave the ladies alone!” ” scolds the mother. “We are not ladies, we are clowns,” replies Larisa, a retired philosophy teacher. Olga, a TV editor, wore a yellow and black jumpsuit. She’s buzzing. Kostya, wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “Son of Odin,” laughs heartily. It would seem that the ringing of a bell could be heard in the almost empty wing. “The children awaiting a transplant were evacuated to Poland,” notes his mother.

Inna pokes her head out of her room. In his arms, eight-month-old Miroslav looks at the two clowns with curiosity. The baby won the war against leukemia: the operation was successful and he was able to return home. But the family lives in the East, in Sumy, close to the Russian border and its military operations. “We will wait before we return… We will win!” “, says the mother. At 13:00 a voice over the loudspeaker warns that sirens are sounding outside. Kostya doesn’t jump. He blows up soap bubbles with a balloon machine gun.

“My daughter had to change her treatment, I’m afraid it will be less effective”

The Mother and Child Hospital is surrounded by barricades. On Tuesday, it was necessary to pass through six checkpoints, with documents checked and trunks opened, to arrive at its gates from the posh suburb in the north of the capital, closest to the tanks. Victoria, the mother of little Sasha, stands up in her pink Crocs: “We are confident in our army. They are holding. Without them we might die on Saturday or Sunday.”

In the upstairs bedroom, Marina hesitates to pack her bags. Due to the invasion, the hospital is no longer receiving some rare drugs. She strokes three-year-old Maria’s short hair. “My daughter had to change her treatment, I’m afraid it will be less effective.” Cancer doesn’t give its baby a break. A few weeks ago, metastases affected his left eye. She underwent emergency surgery. “In Europe she would have access to all medicines. But what happens if we have a problem on the road? I can’t decide. »

Most of the doctors, nurses and assistant nurses lived in the hospital with their patients. Valentina, the head nurse with a fixed smile, looks after ten children on the third floor. “No one ran away in my department.” She waves her arms, which are colored green, pink and blue. “The kids used to put nail polish on me when we were at the shelter. We distract them with coloring books and cartoons. » Larisa the Clown also aims to entertain mothers glued to the news on their phones. An almost impossible mission. “I am also afraid. I can’t even imagine what the future of my grandchildren will be like if the Russians win. »

Children’s games no matter what

She sits on a small chair next to Amina, 7 years old. When she’s not stuck here due to leukemia, this chubby little girl lives in Odessa, in the south of the country, with “a cat, a sister, a parrot” and parents she forgets to remember, to quote. “I know what’s going on, I’ve been told there’s danger outside. But I’m not afraid. When I grow up, I will be an artist,” she declares in a matter-of-fact tone.

“These children teach us that we cannot change reality, but only the way we look at what happens; Now this is a valuable lesson,” Olga the clown whispers as she leaves the hospital. On the first night in the labyrinths of the basement, the little patients smiled: they were finally able to play hide and seek. This was impossible in their rooms.

In the lobby, volunteers place diaper bags and water bags on carts. Refrigerators are overflowing with eggs and sausages. The pharmacy is also crowded. The calculations were carried out by Alla Shlapak, elected to the Kiev City Council and the aunt of 10-year-old hospital patient Anna. In the event of a siege, the hospital “can hold out for a week.”