Zelenskyy honours doctors who rescued children from Okhmatdyt children's hospital – photos

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has honoured three doctors from the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in Kyiv for their courage and dedication to their job.

Source: Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital

Details: One of the orders was awarded posthumously, the hospital administration said.

The Order For Courage (3rd class) was awarded to paediatric maxillofacial surgeon Oleh Holubchenko. He was operating on a five-month-old baby during the massive Russian missile attack on 8 July.

A photograph of Holubchenko wearing snow-white scrubs covered in blood went viral. Despite being injured himself, the doctor helped clear away the rubble and rescue his colleagues.

Oleh Holubchenko with a young patient.

Photo: Okhmatdyt

The second award went to Anastasiia Zakharova, a paediatrician in the Intensive and Efferent Therapy Department for Chronic Intoxication. She was awarded the Order of Merit, 3rd class.

Anastasiia was inside the ruined building at the time of the attack and helped others rescue children who were trapped under the rubble. She also provided medical assistance to the wounded, despite having suffered numerous injuries herself.

Anastasiia Zakharova at the awards ceremony.

Photo: Okhmatdyt

The Order For Courage, 3rd class, was posthumously awarded to paediatric nephrologist Svitlana Lukianchuk, who was killed as she was evacuating children to a shelter.

Quote: "The Okhmatdyt team is proud of our doctors who, despite all the risks, continue to save children’s lives every day."

Background:

• On 8 July, the Russians fired about 40 missiles of various types on Ukraine. Several of them hit Okhmatdyt, the largest children's hospital in Ukraine, destroying the toxicology ward.
• Ukraine’s Minister of Health said that 627 children were in Okhmatdyt at the time of the strike; most of them were discharged.
• Eyewitnesses said many people were injured by glass.
• Doctors provided assistance both before and after the attack. One of them, toxicologist Vitalii Its, was photographed carrying a child out of the destroyed building.

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