At the Adonis Maternity Hospital in Buzova, women gave birth in darkness and tried to keep their spirits up as Russian troops advanced toward nearby Kyiv in late February. Then the attack began
There is no mistaking the Adonis Maternity Hospital. The five-storey building is flanked with signs depicting mothers kissing babies and billboard-sized text identifying it as an obstetrics clinic.pregnant women fled Kyiv and other cities to take shelter here, 35 kilometres west of the capital.
The Globe and Mail interviewed two women who were at the clinic when it came under attack, which was confirmed by local authorities and Adonis, the company that owns the clinic. The Globe is not disclosing the identities of the women because both are surrogate mothers bound by strict confidentiality contracts.
Women delivered babies under cellphone lights. The women interviewed by The Globe recalled at least five births in the first four days of the war. One appeared to be a premature delivery induced by stress. They could hear the scream of fighter jets overhead. They began to differentiate different types of munitions by sound.
“All medical infrastructure facilities throughout the country are marked, both on maps and with external identification,” he said. “It is impossible not to know about their location or ‘fail to notice’ the warning signs. Unfortunately, the shelling of medical institutions has no purpose: it is a senseless and bloody act of violence, like the entire war itself.”