Canadian group fundraises for bombed Kyiv children's hospital
CBC
Solomia Fomeniuk, 16, was in the midst of life-saving dialysis treatment at a children's hospital in Kyiv last month, when it was suddenly blasted with a deadly missile strike.
Covered in blood, she was carried out on a stretcher from the Ohmatdyt Children's Hospital — Ukraine's largest medical facility for children, her mother told CBC News. The hospital is believed to have been struck by a Russian missile during a massive daytime barrage on July 8, killing 44 civilians throughout the country. Of those, two adults were killed in the hospital attack, including one doctor.
"We have no peaceful life, feel there is nowhere safe in Ukraine, not in the shelters, not in a children's hospital," her mother, Oksana Fomeniuk, told CBC News.
"We will never know how many children may die because they can no longer turn to Ohmadyt for care."
The destruction of the facility drew international condemnation and prompted the Canada-Ukraine Foundation in Toronto to take action by setting up a fundraiser to help purchase new machines and equipment for the hospital. So far, it has raised more than $700,000 with a target goal of $1 million, as the hospital works to rebuild and return to its normal operations.
"It's essential that we're able as Canadians to contribute to the rebuilding of that hospital so that it can start receiving children at the same capacity [as] before the bombing," said Valeriy Kostyuk, the foundation's executive director.
The machine Fomeniuk had been using that day was one of the dialysis machines donated by the foundation.
"Imagine we as Canadians — as Torontonians — lose the ability to have, you know, SickKids [hospital]," Kostyuk told CBC News. "God forbid this would ever happen in Canada. But it's like losing this whole entire institution."
Russia has denied responsibility for the hospital strike, insisting it doesn't attack civilian targets in Ukraine despite abundant evidence to the contrary, including reporting by The Associated Press. But the United Nations rights mission said last week there was a "high likelihood" that Ohmatdyt hospital took a direct hit from a Russian missile.
In 2022, the Canada-Ukraine Foundation sent 17 dialysis machines to Ukraine, and Kostyuk said it hopes to send more through the money raised. Kostyuk said it has sent roughly $80 million worth of humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2014.
"Without undergoing hemodialysis three times a week, these children will not survive for more than three days," the organization said in a news release on Aug. 8.
The 10-storey hospital was caring for 627 patients at the time of the attack, according to the country's health minister.
The Ukraine-Canada Foundation said the patients are currently receiving treatment at another hospital, where dialysis machines are used in four shifts due to limited equipment availability.
"The strain and the urgency is real to help Ukrainians be able to sustain the flow of patients and to be able to provide the life-saving support that is needed," Kostyuk said.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
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