On Ukraine’s front line, a fight to save premature babies

Alina Haupt, an intern-doctor, holds Veronika, a baby born prematurely at 29 weeks, at the Pokrovsk Perinatal Hospital in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Doctors say the stress caused by the war and rapidly worsening living conditions are leading to more frequent birth complications for the area's pregnant women. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Alina Haupt, an intern-doctor, holds Veronika, a baby born prematurely at 29 weeks, at the Pokrovsk Perinatal Hospital in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. Doctors say the stress caused by the war and rapidly worsening living conditions are leading to more frequent birth complications for the area's pregnant women. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

By Associated Press August 21, 2022 4 min read

POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — Echoing down the corridors of eastern Ukraine’s Pokrovsk Perinatal Hospital are the loud cries of tiny Veronika.

Born nearly two months prematurely weighing 1.5 kilograms (3 pounds, 4 ounces), the infant receives oxygen through a nasal tube to help her breathe while ultraviolet lamps inside an incubator treat her jaundice.

Dr. Tetiana Myroshnychenko carefully connects the tubes that allow Veronika to feed on her mother’s stored breast milk and ease her hunger.

Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, three hospitals in government-controlled areas of the country’s war-torn Donetsk region had facilities to care for premature babies. One was hit by a Russian airstrike and the other had to close as a result of the fighting ‒ leaving only the maternity hospital in the coal mining town of Pokrovsk still operating.