News

‘Broke our hearts’: BBC report follows Ukrainian children with cancer fleeing hospitals due to invasion

Buses have carried civilians out of one embattled Ukrainian city and supplies towards another, as officials tried to move people away from a Russian onslaught and ease a dire humanitarian situation for those still stuck.

But reports of renewed Russian attacks in one area threatened to again derail those efforts on the 13th day of the invasion.

UN officials said two million people have now fled Ukraine in Europe’s worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.

Children with cancer

Now the BBC has documented the plight of Ukrainian children who are suffering from cancer and are being forced to flee the war in their own country.

Mark Lowen tweeted: “This one broke our hearts: Ukrainian children cancer patients fleeing their hospitals and evacuated to Poland. Vital chemotherapy broken off by Russia’s bombs. It is unspeakably cruel.”

In the clip he speaks Alla, a mother of a sick son: “Our hearts are tearing from pain. My son always says he’s fine but we need to continue his treatment.”

Also in the moving video, Lowen says: “This is just a desperately sad situation, children who are safe from the war have now plunged back into danger with their illness, rushing to resume treatment that’s been broken off. This is a conflict that is killing, uprooting and now threatening the most vulnerable.”

Another video of a child in floods of tears has also gone viral, again shining a light on the impact this irrational war has had on children.

Watch

Reactions

People who watched the clip were very moved by the stories of these poor children.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Related: Ukraine refugees made to wait in -3° cold outside UK visa centre

Joe Mellor

Head of Content

Published by
Tags: ukraine