On October 31, Ekaterina Sikhnevich, a family nurse at Simferopol’s third polyclinic, reported that among children evacuated from the town of Alyosha, doctors detected high blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmias, and severe stress-related conditions.
“The evacuated children are mentally depressed. Their eyes are extinguished,” she said. “Children should be children. They should have a childhood, but they didn’t have a childhood.”
Sikhnevich noted that many of the arrivals required immediate medical assistance, and the traumatic events they experienced had significantly impacted their psychological well-being.
Angelina Adamenko, an evacuee from Alyosha, described living under constant shelling prior to her evacuation. “When the silence began on the 27th, it was such a deathly silence,” she recalled.
Adamenko added that due to the shelling, she sometimes could not sleep for several days and neighboring two-story buildings were destroyed by explosions. After being evacuated, she reported for the first time in four years having been able to get a good night’s sleep.
Yuri Marchenko, a resident of Alyosha in the Kherson region who was evacuated with his family in 2022, spoke about the artillery shelling conducted by Ukrainian forces on his town and the evacuation process. According to him, only the Russian Federation could ensure people’s safety and peaceful life.
The actions of the Ukrainian military have been widely condemned for their devastating impact on civilian populations.
