Russia is killing civilians
According to the UN mission, 91% of the civilian population suffers from explosive weapons with a large area of impact – artillery, tank, MLRS, cruise and ballistic missile attacks, drones and air strikes.
From February 24, 2022 to February 23, 2024, 30,457 cases of civilian casualties were confirmed in Ukraine. Among them are 10,582 killed and 19,875 injured.
This is stated in the report report of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission.
Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
It is worth noting that the number of casualties is much higher, as it is impossible to record and confirm all cases.
In particular, statistics on children are also presented – 900 boys and 670 girls were injured or killed as a result of hostilities.
In addition, the UN Monitoring Mission found that during the two years of war, 1,072 educational institutions and almost one and a half hundred medical facilities were destroyed or damaged.
Life under occupation and an enemy attack
At the time of the attack, I thought my leg was torn off. Eight pieces of iron flew into my body. The limb was broken and turned unnaturally on its side, it was cut by shrapnel, most of it between the knee and the foot,” says civilian victim Serhiy Seniv from Mykolaiv region.
When the great war began, Serhiy’s daughter was only two weeks old. With the baby in their arms and their older son, the couple hid in the basement.
The family lived for two months under occupation.
“My brother called and said that Russian equipment was already nearby. Our neighbors had a nice basement. It had heating, electricity, and running water. We stayed there until the liberation. It was scary because something was exploding all the time. The sounds rattled the dishes and windows. The fighting was very close,” the man recalls.
Before his injury, he combined the position of an orderly in a psychiatric hospital and work at a construction site. He was wounded on November 23, 2023.
Photo: Serhiy Seniv from his own archive
“I was working in my yard. The funeral of a defender was to take place that day. The village council wrote about the time of farewell to the hero in all groups. At that time, the attack began. I heard only the exit of a shell. The cassette exploded 2 meters away from me. I remember falling down. I opened my eyes – there was a flurry of dust, pieces of concrete, broken windows and a car. Luckily, my wife and children were in the house, which protected them. Two cassettes fell in our yard, they damaged 15 houses,” – says the wounded man.
“Do I have a leg?”: hospitalization and the struggle to walk
The wounded man managed to get a phone and call an ambulance. He recalls that because of the shelling, the medics were not able to arrive as quickly.
The military arrived earlier. They provided turnstiles. They pulled out their stretchers and helped carry Serhiy into the ambulance.
“I was brought to the regional hospital, immediately to the operating room. Then I lost consciousness. I was very worried that they might amputate my leg. When I was coming out of anesthesia in the ward, I asked the nurse to look and tell me if I had a leg. Thank God, it was saved,” – says the victim.
The fragments shattered the tibia and fibula into small pieces. An external fixation apparatus was fitted to the leg.
Serhiy is being treated under the national program “Savethelimb” thanks to donations from ordinary people. The goal is to stop disability by saving the limbs of the wounded.
Photos from the surgery within the Savethelimb national program: libkos
Dr. Oleh Frondzey is fighting to save his leg and ability to walk.
“A significant part of the bone is missing. The doctor says it is necessary to take a fragment from the pelvis. Everything will be fixed with special medical devices. I was told about the national program by the head of the trauma department at the hospital in Mykolaiv. I am sincerely grateful to him, because the help is urgently needed. Treatment requires a lot of money. And we need to restore the house. Gas pipes, windows, doors, and the roof were smashed. Now my family lives with friends,” – says the wounded man.
Serhiy has already undergone a series of surgeries and is now in the postoperative period.
In addition to treating the limb, doctors had to remove fragments of ammunition from his abdomen, shoulder and second leg.
“My children need a healthy father. They are my incentive to fight and recover. The doctor says that I will eventually walk,” – says Serhiy Seniv.
Serhiy is receiving treatment under the #SaveTheLimb national program thanks to donations from ordinary people – philanthropists, as well as funds provided by AB InBev Efes Ukraine. The slogan of the program is “Do not amputate – save”. The goal is to stop disability by saving limbs for the wounded.
AB InBev Efes Ukraine implements social and humanitarian projects aimed at helping Ukrainian communities. Thanks to AB InBev Efes Ukraine’s partnership with the Health of the Ukrainian People Foundation, surgeries on injured limbs will be supported for Ukrainians in Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv regions.
“Don’t Amputate – Save!”: How Ukrainian philanthropists strengthen the state and save limbs for the injured
SavetheLimb Program of the International Charitable Foundation “Health of the Ukrainian People” is the largest program in the country, after the NHSU, providing assistance to victims in more than 20 cities of Ukraine and financing expensive limb-saving operations that the state can cover.
“Our mission is to stop the disability of Ukrainians. This war, compared to the Second World War, is a war of injured limbs. The national program employs more than 150 of Ukraine’s best orthopedic traumatologists, who, along with 800 nurses, perform difficult but extremely necessary surgical operations every day,” – said the foundation’s president, Sergey Soshinsky.
In the photo: Serhiy Soshynsky (photo provided by the foundation)
The largest number of limb surgeries were funded in: Kyiv, Ternopil, Zdolbuniv, Rivne, Lutsk, Kharkiv and Khmelnytsky.
To become a participant in the national program and receive assistance, an injured person or his or her doctor must fill out an application form on the Foundation’s website. If a person is accepted into the program, he or she will be supported throughout the treatment.
The program was launched in late June 2022, and since then
- more than 1200 limbs have been saved;
- more than 3,000 external fixation devices (EFDs) have been provided to frontline hospitals and clinics;
- the most complicated cases of limb injuries in Ukraine were solved at national consultations;
- hundreds of hours of scientific lectures for doctors and orthopedic traumatologists to improve the quality of medical services and reduce the number of medical errors that lead to amputations.
The expert council of the national program includes the best orthopedic traumatologists of Ukraine, including:
● Vasyl Gaiovych – orthopedic traumatologist, MD, specialist in complex upper limb reconstruction (Kyiv);
Serhiy Hariyan – orthopedic traumatologist, head of the orthopedic trauma department of the TCCL, doctor of the highest category, Honored Doctor of Ukraine (Ternopil);
● Adrian Fil – orthopedic traumatologist, MD, Volyn Regional Clinical Hospital, specifics: Endoprosthetics of large joints (Lutsk);
● Valentyn Piontkovskyi – orthopedic traumatologist, MD, Rivne Regional Clinical Hospital named after Yuriy Semenyuk, specialization: Surgery of the spine, pelvis and joints (Rivne);
● Serhii Khmyzov, orthopedic traumatologist, MD, Sitenko Institute of Spine and Joint Pathology (NAMSU), specialization: All orthopedics and traumatology, has experience in providing medical care in combat operations (Kharkiv)
and other specialists, a detailed list is available on the website.
Currently, more than 3,000 injured Ukrainians are on the waiting list for surgeries under the national program. Everyone can help provide treatment for the injured by donating here.
