They took them away in the night with their families because Kiev, by now, has become a city “too dangerous”, especially for them. There are four children with cancer, but others will follow, for which treatment had become at risk due to the escalation of violence in the capital of Ukraine. They transferred them to the city of Ternopil, to the west, where there is a hospital that will be able to welcome them and in this city the NGO Soleterre is setting up a reception center because it is feared that a wave of people will soon arrive. fleeing the capital. Meanwhile, the first drug shortages in hospitals are already occurring. To give voice to the tragedy of these young cancer patients is the NGO Soleterre Foundation, which has been working in Ukraine since 2003 providing assistance to children with cancer and supporting a shelter in Kiev, the Dacha. From the Dacha the first four patients were evacuated last night, but other children who were sick and in more serious conditions were stuck in Kiev because they were not transportable: 25 at the Cancer Institute and 20 at the Institute of Neurosurgery.
War in Ukraine, images of the Soleterre non-profit Kiev bunker where children with cancer take refuge
«The situation, say from Soleterre, is serious and it was necessary to transfer 15 children – whose conditions are particularly delicate and which absolutely cannot interrupt treatment – to an underground ‘bunker’ of the Institute for Cancer. The hope is that they can be safer there ». For Natalia Onipko, president of the Zaporouka Foundation, the sister organization of Soleterre that manages the Dacha, children with oncological diseases “are facing two wars: one against cancer and against the Russian invasion. They are exhausted, some have already experienced these traumas in 2014 ». Kiev, she says, “is no longer safe, the bombings continue and the safety of our patients is at risk. The basement of our Dacha is too precarious, the children are frightened and our priority is to save them and continue their life-saving treatments. “
And in view of a worsening of the situation, Soleterre is collaborating with the hospital in Ternopil to equip a reception facility: «In the next few hours we foresee an exodus from Kiev to the West and medicines are already lacking. We need everyone’s solidarity, don’t leave us alone ”, is the appeal of Natalia Onipko. Soleterre is in place and is already supporting by guaranteeing supplies of essential goods. But the risk that the drug shortage will worsen is real, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has taken urgent action: “We will continue to provide health care and support people across Ukraine affected by this crisis” and for this purpose 3.5 million dollars of urgent funds have been released for the sending of medical material to the country, announced WHO director general Tedros Ghebreyesus, saying that he is “deeply concerned about the health of the Ukrainian people in the escalation of the crisis. And calling for “lasting and safe access to guarantee humanitarian assistance”. The further escalation of the conflict, however, seems inevitable at this point to observers on the spot. Russia, Natalia Onipko denounces, “is bombing all of Ukraine, there is no difference with the Donbass, strategic areas no longer exist”.