Ukrainian doctors describe delivering babies as Russia shelled the hospital

Ukrainian doctors describe delivering babies as Russia shelled the hospital

Transcript¹

TROSTYANETS, Ukraine — Walking through the heavily shelled second floor maternity² ward³, Dr. Hanna Shvetsova stops to stare at a glossy⁴ picture of a blond baby lying on a white pillow. It's the kind of image seen in countless⁵ ads for baby products.

It's now covered in bullet holes.

Six babies were delivered here at Trostyanets Hospital during the Russian occupation, including a pair of twins.

Shvetsova says most of those were conducted in the hallways, where they felt a bit safer working between two extra walls.

"I could have died three times with my patients," she says. "First, when the tank was shooting at us. Second, when the ceiling was falling."

She says the third was when she decided⁶ to walk a new mother home around the tanks, through a forest that she later learned was full of land mines.

The liberation of this small northern Ukrainian town just 22 miles from the Russian border after four weeks of occupation was not only a great victory for the people of Trostyanets, but a source of pride for the country.

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Yet, a month after the Russian forces left, local officials are only just beginning to understand the long-term impacts of the devastating⁷ Russian occupation.

The bridge into town remains⁸ split in two. The factories that employed thousands of workers have been destroyed.

And in a sign of what other liberated⁹ Ukrainian communities will face, the biggest challenge for Trostyanets is likely not rebuilding the town's infrastructure¹⁰, but recovering from the psychological scars of the occupation.

Thousands of jobs were lost

The first Russian troops arrived in Trostyanets on Feb. 24, day one of the war, as Russian forces started their initial push toward the west.

The Russians quickly took control of City Hall and the local police department.

Thousands of jobs were lost when the local chocolate factory and wood factory were destroyed. He said hundreds more were lost when the bombed-out train station stopped working.

Zhenya Skorohodov, an administrator¹¹ at City Hall, says it will likely take years to rebuild.

"It's very hard because the infrastructure of the city is almost destroyed," Skorohodov says. "So nowadays, we don't have any abilities to go back to normal life because it needs much financial resources to reconstruct the infrastructure subjects in the city."

Wrecked¹² infrastructure can be rebuilt, but deeper scars will last a long time

But Trostyanets' mayor, Yuriy Bova, is confident that they'll get the money. The infrastructure, he says, will be rebuilt. He worries more about the scars on people's minds.

Fifty-two residents were killed, including two children, before Ukrainian forces were able to wrest¹³ back control of the city. There are 18 residents still missing.

Bova says most everyone in the community lost a family member or a friend.

Some watched them die.

And some also had to live alongside the dead because they did not want to risk leaving their homes and getting killed by the Russians — or caught in the crossfire¹⁴.

"The trauma¹⁵ that people experienced will last for years," Bova tells NPR. "It's something that can't be cured by humanitarian¹⁶ aid."

Many fear the Russians' return

Many resident fear the Russians will return again. They imagine troops sitting and waiting on the border, which is just 30 minutes away.

"It's hard to imagine this happening again," says Myroslav Shylo, a local baker¹⁷. "I don't know if I could survive psychologically."

During the occupation, Shylo, 23, secretly secured flour so that he could make bread and stole fuel from the gas station so that he could deliver it to the neediest residents, including patients and doctors at the hospital.

On a recent day, hundreds of desperate residents were standing¹⁸ in line outside his shop waiting to get a loaf of bread for their families.

"You can't buy anything," Shylo says. "This is the only place you can get food."

Attacks tore through the hospital walls and windows

Nowhere is that trauma as apparent as at the local hospital.

The once state-of-the-art facility renovated¹⁹ last fall looks as if it could crumble²⁰ at any moment.

Two large slabs²¹ of the exterior²² walls — almost as big as the tanks that likely fired on them — have been torn off.

The head of the maternity ward, Dr. Tetiana Sydorenko, says staff continued to work throughout the occupation.

Without windows and in some places no walls, she says there was no escaping the cold. And the shelling was just incessant²³.

"It's hard to explain — the explosions. It was in your head. It was above your head. It was exploding inside of you. It was hell," she says.

Some of the last days of the occupation were also the worst, forcing patients and doctors to the basement.

Sydorenko says they had to use flashlights. She never wants to go back to that basement.

"This is pain. It was just horrible," she says. "I don't want to go down there. I don't want to remember. It's psychologically difficult."

Dr. Shvetsova says the staff and patients cried a lot — and laughed when they could.

She says they had a job to do and figured out ways to keep doing it.

"One baby was born in the bomb shelter during the heavy fighting. Everyone got quiet waiting to hear the child. When she finally cried — everyone cheered."

She said it was the one moment when everyone forgot about the shelling.

They named her Daria.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

3 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

4 glossy   

adj.平滑的；有光泽的

参考例句：

• I like these glossy spots.我喜欢这些闪闪发光的花点。
• She had glossy black hair.她长着乌黑发亮的头发。

5 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

10 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

11 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

12 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

13 wrest   

n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲

参考例句：

• The officer managed to wrest the gun from his grasp.警官最终把枪从他手中夺走了。
• You wrest my words out of their real meaning.你曲解了我话里的真正含义。

14 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。

15 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

16 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

17 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

18 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

19 renovated   

翻新，修复，整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He renovated his house. 他翻修了房子。
• The house has been renovated three years earlier. 这所房子三年前就已翻新。

20 crumble   

vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁

参考例句：

• Opposition more or less crumbled away.反对势力差不多都瓦解了。
• Even if the seas go dry and rocks crumble,my will will remain firm.纵然海枯石烂，意志永不动摇。

21 slabs   

n.厚板，平板，厚片( slab的名词复数 )；厚胶片

参考例句：

• The patio was made of stone slabs. 这天井是用石板铺砌而成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The slabs of standing stone point roughly toward the invisible notch. 这些矗立的石块，大致指向那个看不见的缺口。 来自辞典例句

22 exterior   

adj.外部的，外在的；表面的

参考例句：

• The seed has a hard exterior covering.这种子外壳很硬。
• We are painting the exterior wall of the house.我们正在给房子的外墙涂漆。

23 incessant   

adj.不停的，连续的

参考例句：

• We have had incessant snowfall since yesterday afternoon.从昨天下午开始就持续不断地下雪。
• She is tired of his incessant demands for affection.她厌倦了他对感情的不断索取。