Well-known Kyiv doctor Svitlana Huk shares what she saw in just one day in the liberated Bucha.

Terrible footage of what happened during the racist occupation in Bucha, Irpen, Gostomel flew around the world. In recent days, they have overflowed the social media feeds and all our feelings. Apparently, this is what absolute evil looks like.

We were terrified, cried, hated even more. These days in Kyiv, 20 km from this hell, they forgot to smile. And what happened to the people who stayed there all these endless weeks, in hell…

Humanitarian aid is now being transported en masse to Bucha, but so far, due to numerous mines, only volunteers can get there, and not all of them. On April 5, Svitlana Huk visited there together with a familiar military doctor.

Svitlana – Head of the Center for Respiratory Medicine and Allergology of the Clinical Hospital “Feofania", before that – Head of the Infectious Diseases Department of the Kyiv City Clinical Hospital №17.

“Back in 2014, I met the soldiers of this regiment. Their volunteer turned to me for help then. So many years passed and she called again. When the guys from the regiment were suffering from viral infections or, sometimes, pneumonia, I consulted them, either at our hospital, or I went to them, to one of the bases in Kyiv. So I met with regimental medics."

“And when I learned that their doctor should go to Bucha, I asked him: “Take me, I’ll be useful. I have medical resources, a lot of medicines that were brought by the humanities. " A colleague gladly agreed, agreed with the commander, and I said goodbye to work at the hospital that day. My husband, a neurosurgeon, also left."

“When we thought about what to take, we did not understand what to expect, what we will see there, that is, what medicines are more needed in the current Bucha. Took just a little. Lots of dressings, and I grabbed a whole pack of sedatives and sleeping pills. As a result, running forward, I used only three blisters from the whole package … I saw there what I did not expect."

“I thought I would meet in Bucha tears, despair, obvious depression – but no, people were somehow especially internally gathered. Maybe it’s their reaction after the shock of the experience, maybe – something else. To say that I was very surprised is to say nothing."

“The military guys think that it may be euphoria that the Bucha prisoners have finally been released, that they can go out into the yard, see each other, that there are no more enemy tanks and soldiers anywhere in Bucha…"

“We were only in one district of Bucha liberated from the occupiers, where there was not much destruction, we walked several streets, and everywhere I saw people communicating with each other, taking their animals for a walk, cooking something."

“Maybe then people will fall asleep, they will remember the recent days and nights, and then they will be overwhelmed by horror, tears and fatigue. In the meantime, they are just happy that our guys are around, that they see ours everywhere."

“… Or our people are really incredible."

“We received people in the local outpatient clinic – there is still no lighting, no heat, no water. The military brought a generator, turned on some heaters – the day was very cold, and they worked."

“What did we face as doctors? Injuries were neglected, there were severe bedridden patients with bedsores, there was a man with the so-called “trench foot". Many people simply came up with neatly compiled lists of medications needed for chronic illnesses, such as hypertension or diabetes, and calmly asked for help on exactly what they needed."

“I helped several people as a pulmonologist."

“One man needed emergency help – his wife had died the day before, and he had an asthma attack that he could not move."

“While we were receiving in the outpatient clinic, people approached us and told us which of the bedridden patients should be approached separately."

“And we went. We visited a woman whose old mother did not move at all after several strokes. For the sake of her mother, this woman stayed in the city. Their apartment was beaten by shelling, and a young woman was stretched like a string. But she is spinning as best she can, getting medicine, she has learned to treat bedsores thanks to the Internet, for the sake of her family she now wakes up and falls asleep…"

“We go to another house, to the woman, with a suspicion of a broken leg. Her husband came out to meet us:
“Wait, wait," he told the soldiers who accompanied me.
“Don’t come in with guns right away, you’re scaring her".
This is from the occupation. People are not yet accustomed to the door opening, and there is no threat that if a man is armed, he is not a Russian soldier."

“… Wherever the Buchans did not hide from the occupiers. We had one patient in a tiny closet built over the garage. There is only a couch, a plate and I had to climb an iron ladder…"

“Everywhere I was accompanied by the military, and everywhere, protecting the doctor, they came first: despite the fact that the city is already liberated, different things can still be here …"

“People are still preparing to eat on the street, there is still no water, no light. Nearby is a lake where water is collected. While we were there – 5-6 hours – one man fed us such potato pancakes, which I think I have never eaten in my life.
Then, when we had to go back, in some yard we were offered meatballs fried on the fire, but we thanked him and refused."

“And not only us were met in Bucha.
I brought with me a list of medicines that people in Bucha need. I wrote down their phones and names. Now I will spread the drugs in sachets and pass them on through volunteers."