Svyatoslav Rychkov lifts his legs gently and squints at the sun. The rays dazzle the pale face. In a sling, his right arm hangs withered, while he leans on his mother with the other. The 13-year-old is outdoors and walking on his own two feet for the first time since May 9, when NRK meets him at St. Nicholas Hospital in Lviv. He is part of a new gloomy development in the war-torn country. War-injured children who have survived, against all odds. But what future awaits them now, they ask themselves at the hospital. – He could have died from the injuries, confirms surgeon Andriy Dvorakevych at the hospital. Svyatoslav hopes that his arm will heal completely so that he can play volleyball again. Photo: Charlotte Bergløff / NRK “Mom, my arm is torn off!” It was at home in Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine that it narrowed just over two weeks ago. The splinters fed so quickly into the 13-year-old’s body that the family first did not discover what had happened. In the chaos that arose after the rocket attack, Svyatoslav’s father ran out to save the neighbors. The father thought the neighbors were hardest hit, but inside the house Svyatoslav was now swaying. – It felt like my arm had fallen off. After a minute, I felt the pain. I shouted at my mother: “Mom, my arm has been torn off, it has been torn off!”, He says. Then it turned black for the boy. Svyatoslav Rychkov has been through several complicated operations since he arrived at the hospital in Lviv with his mother just over two weeks ago. Photo: Charlotte Bergløff / NRK A dangerous escape Olena Rychkova ran to her son. – I reacted instantly. I grabbed him and saw that the trachea was open. The blood gushed. When I heard the breathing, I understood that it was about seconds, Olena tells NRK. Had it not been for her experience as an emergency nurse, the minutes that followed could have been fatal, the doctor confirms. The mother managed to stop the bleeding and got hold of a friend who could drive them to the hospital. They only had enough petrol, but when they arrived, the hospital was under full evacuation. Patients and staff poured out of the building. It was too dangerous to stay. Ukrainian soldiers helped Svyatoslav aboard a train too badly injured. It was to transport the injured to hospitals further west in the country, they explained. To safer areas. But there was no room for mother on board. The boy had to travel alone, the soldiers said. “I’m not leaving my child,” said Olena Rychkova, pushing herself along. Two days later, they arrived at the hospital in Lviv. Svyatoslav shares a room with a 12-year-old boy who wakes up from anesthesia while NRK is visiting. He too is badly injured in an attack. Photo: Charlotte Bergløff / NRK After 9 May, they have not heard from Svyatoslav’s father, Olena’s husband. They do not know where he is, if he is alive, and do not get in touch with him. All they know is that their home is now in ruins. Never seen this type of injury before At the hospital, doctors discovered splinters in Svyatoslav’s lung and liver. It was urgent to get them out of the boy’s body. – It is terrible and a completely new experience for us. Although I have 25 years of experience, this is a whole new period for me. The experienced surgeon Andriy Dvorakevych has never before experienced treating children mutilated by war on a daily basis. Photo: Charlotte Bergløff / NRK Andriy Dvorakevych heads the department of surgery at St. Nicholas Hospital. Had it not been for the help they now receive from foreign doctors with experience from war zones, they would not have been able to save as many lives, he explains. Had to amputate his legs An ambulance drives up in front of the hospital. A mother and daughter are wheeled out in their respective wheelchairs. A young boy strolls behind. We recognize them quickly. The pictures of 11-year-old Yana Stepanenko and her mother Natasha have traveled the world. This picture of Yana Stepanenko has already become a symbol of the brutality of the war when NRK visits the hospital where they are being treated. Photo: Emilio Morenatti / AP Together with Yana’s twin brother Yarik, they traveled to the train station in Kramatorsk on April 8 to escape the war. While waiting to board, Russian forces attacked. “Mom, I’m dying,” Yana shouted. When the mother regained consciousness, she saw her daughter with her legs dangling, now without feet. There was blood everywhere, and the mother quickly discovered that her legs were not where they should be either. Only Yarik, who fit his luggage some distance away, was just as whole. The plane alarm reminds that the war can hit them again The family has shared its story with the world in the hope that it can help stop the war. But new war-injured children and adults are constantly coming to the hospital in Lviv, the doctors say. The pictures of 11-year-old Yana Stepanenko, her twin brother Yarik and her mother Natasha have traveled the world. Photo: Emilio Morenatti / AP – I hope the war will end soon, because this is not normal. That small children get such injuries for life, it is very hard to witness, says the doctor. But there is little sign of victory for Ukraine right away, and patients are constantly reminded that they are not safe here in the west either. As NRK leaves the hospital, the plane alarm goes off again. Doctors at St. Nicholas’ Hospital in Lviv are shocked by the damage civilians are now inflicting, and hope the war will end soon. Photo: Charlotte Bergløff / NRK We have to seek cover in the nearest basement, but the thoughts go to the children up there on the 5th floor. Children who can no longer run into the bomb room themselves, and have already experienced what such a plane alarm can entail.
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Ukraine’s children and young people lose lives and limbs in war – NRK Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
