In this city in the south-east of Ukraine controlled by kyiv, close to the demarcation line, more and more future mothers make the journey from zones under Russian occupation.
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The chief doctor crosses the corridors by sliding a word of encouragement to the employees he crosses on his way. A woman in a stretcher surrounded by nurses holds her child, born two hours earlier. Despite the war, its proximity to the front line located a few tens of kilometers and the regular bombings in the city of southeast Ukraine, the central maternity of Zaporijia has never stopped working. Even during the first weeks of the conflict, care and deliveries took place night and day in an underground shelter.
“Of course, we are nervous”, gently drops Valentyn Khodak, at the head of the service. Since February 24 and the start of the Russian invasion, 800 women, according to the maternity statement, have given birth here. The figure is much lower than that of previous years. As in all the cities of Ukraine, many women “left in the west of the country where abroad,” says the chief doctor. The other two maternities of Zaporijia, 800,000 inhabitants in peacetime, note similar declines.
Three Russian missiles on a column of cars
Effect of war, the establishment, on the other hand, records an increase in the number of women from territories under Russian control in the south of Ukraine. Of the 800s that have presented themselves for the past seven months, 315 came from partially occupied regions of Kherson, Zaporijia and Donetsk. For the days and weeks to come, the chief doctor expects to receive another 250 displaced from these territories having already reserved a place in maternity. Valentyn Khodak explains that the areas held by the Kremlin suffer from a lack of nursing staff. “There are no more doctors there, he says. All the Ukrainian doctors who could evacuate have left. Those who stayed are above all mobilized to take care of the wounded soldiers.”
The events of the last days could however prevent these 250 women expected to give birth in the maternity hospital in Zaporijia. Friday September 30 in the morning, three Russian missiles fell on a column of cars which was preparing to borrow the only crossing point between the territories controlled by the Russian forces and the region held by the Ukrainian army. The bombardment made “30 dead and 88 injured”, including children, said in the evening the head of the Ukrainian polished, Igor Klimenko, on Facebook. According to local media, civilians present in the convoy were headed for the part controlled by the Kremlin of the Oblast of Zaporijia.
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