Dmytrivka is one of the towns in the Kyiv region (oblast) occupied by the Russian army for a few weeks during the earlier stages of the war. Here, as in nearby Fastiv and Makariv, MSF teams run mobile clinics to support people who remained on site when the Russian army came; many of them were unable to leave, other couldn’t face the idea of abandoning their house and the place where they lived all their lives.

Among our patients are elderly people and people suffering from chronic disease, who for weeks were left to themselves, living under incessant shelling and fighting, while all access to healthcare was rescinded. Many of them bear the mental scars of this experience and need psychological support as much as resuming treatment for chronic disease after it was forcibly suspended during the time of the occupation – and in some cases, hasn’t re-started yet.