Hooked up to drugs that keep him alive, 11-year-old Yaroslav Mayorov is facing two terrifying deadly threats as he shelters from the war in a hospital basement.
Putin’s bombs and cancer.
And he is not alone. There are 27 other traumatised children here, battling killer illnesses underground as explosions rock the blitzed city of Kharkiv above their heads.
Mothers with them are sick too… with worry. And with forlorn hope of any kind of rescue.
“We really need help to evacuate the children to safety in a medical convoy,” says Yaroslav’s desperate mum Alyona, 37. “But, so far, no one is coming.
“They are shooting all around us here so we’re trying to stay in the basement but the air is very bad for our children’s health.
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“They are very psychologically traumatised. Yaroslav has a rare abdominal cancer but he wants to live. He has dreams for his future. He loves building things.
“He heroically went through all seven rounds of chemotherapy and now we need to start new treatment but it doesn’t seem possible – it’s all very serious.”
The eastern city of Kharkiv has seen some of the bloodiest fighting of the conflict so far, with last Monday’s deadly attack on civilian areas labelled a war crime by Ukraine ’s leaders.
As the city’s Regional Children’s Hospital came under fire, 35 children on the cancer ward, including Yaroslav, were taken down to the basement.
After the first attacks parents took 20 children home, while other cancer families managed to flee to Przemysl in Poland on a train converted into a makeshift hospital ward.
Later 10 of the sickest patients were moved to the basement of an adult cancer hospital. But it was unable to provide the treatment they needed so they were moved again in bet-ween attacks through the war-scarred streets to the basement of Children’s Hospital No.16 in the south east
of the city, joining 18 other frightened youngsters battling serious blood disorders.
Here they came under the wing of volunteer Natalia Krivolapova, 47, labelled the “angel of our children” by mums of cancer sufferers. Her son survived a brain tumour and she risks daily death in crossfire to go out and get medicine and supplies for the children.
In a tearful call, she told the Sunday Mirror: “Of course the children understand what’s going on, they are crying, shouting, praying to God.
“The little ones are panicking. Those with brain tumours have started having nosebleeds because they’re so terrified. They don’t understand what’s going on, they feel it in their bones.
“The situation is very bad. A rocket fell right next to my house yesterday.
“We could take the children out along the road but no one wants to take that horrible responsibility.
“Kharkiv is practically completely destroyed.”
The mothers are desperate for a medical escort to escape Kharkiv but so far they have had no luck and a green corridor for their city has not yet been approved.
Natalia, a mum of four added: “The children could die because they can’t receive treatment.
“There are other children due to have chemotherapy in Kharkiv but they can’t get here because of the bombing.”
Tanya Bieliavtseva’s son Nazar 12, is one of those – sheltering in their home in a town outside the city.
Tanya, 42, said: “My son had chemotherapy planned for March 11. Now we can’t do it. But the children’s hospital here is the best hospital with the strongest people. We will win. Natalia is an angel of our children.”
A doctor at Children’s Hospital No.16 later told us the youngsters were at last receiving chemotherapy.
The medic added: “We’ve applied to be evacuated – but for now
we wait.
“We are hoping that we can get them out of Kharkiv altogether as soon as possible.”
