The Heartbreak of War
- Editorial Staff
- Mar 15, 2022
- 2 min read
Editorial Staff - March 15, 2022
Surgeons in a Kyiv hospital had to amputate the left arm of a nine-year-old girl known only as Sasha to save her life after she was shot by Russian soldiers while fleeing her home in a vehicle with her father, mother, and sister in Hostomel a suburb of Kyiv last week.
Sasha's father was killed in the unprovoked attack, her mother and sister were able to escape into the street unharmed, but Sasha was hit.
Sasha, her sister, and her mother found safety in a cellar after fleeing the bullet-ridden vehicle. They stayed there for two days while there was relentless fighting going on in the streets above them.
'Russian soldiers tried to break into the cellar. They shot at the door and screamed at the people to come out. Eventually moving on to wreak further havoc.
While in hiding Sasha drifted in and out of consciousness for two days before she was carried to a nearby hospital on a makeshift stretcher by civilians waving a white flag as they ran through the battle zone. Although that point of surrender doesn't seem to matter much in Ukraine these days as Russian troops tend not to be overly concerned about civilian fatalities.
Speaking from her hospital bed Sasha said: 'I don't know why the Russians shot me. I hope it was an accident and that they didn't mean to hurt me." The words of an innocent child trying to understand the madness of war.
The doctors reported during the ordeal 'She was badly injured, lost consciousness and became delirious. She was given emergency treatment at the Central Irpin Hospital which was under gunfire at the time.
'The doctor treating her discovered that gangrene was spreading up her arm from her injury and the decision was made to amputate her left arm to save her life. After the amputation, Sasha was then transferred to a private clinic in Kyiv.
'She is one of a number of children who have suffered terrible injuries. All of them have lost at least one of their parents.'
Now the youngster, who celebrated her ninth birthday the day before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, has asked for a new pink artificial arm that is covered in flowers.
This is just one of the horrific stories coming out of war-torn Ukraine these days, and one that needed not only to be posted in our ongoing blog but needed to be our cover story of the day.
Comments