Nurses cradle newborns and rush them to makeshift bomb shelter in the basement of children’s hospital as Russian rockets pound eastern Ukraine city of Dnipro
- Newborns from a neonatal intensive care unit at a children’s hospital in Dnipro, in eastern Ukraine, were moved into a makeshift bomb shelter
- Video was taken by medical staff in the lower level of the building on Thursday
- Around a dozen babies could be seen wrapped in blankets, some being cradled
- Dnipro was the target of missile strikes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began
Newborn babies in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro were caught on camera having been taken to a makeshift bomb shelter at the hospital where they were born.
About a dozen infants that were being looked after in the neonatal unit were hastily moved into what appeared to be a storage room in the basement of the hospital, in the eastern part of the country.
Nurses could be seen caring for the babies with several of them holding them in their arms, cradling them, some even managing a smile.
Others could be seen using inflatable bags to deliver air to the little ones who were having difficulty breathing.
Newborns from a neonatal intensive care unit at a the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Children’s Clinical Hospital, pictured, in Dnipro, in eastern Ukraine, were moved to a makeshift bomb shelter
The corridors of Dnipropetrovsk City Children’s Clinical Hospital are pictured (file photo)
The babies, which looked to be ranging from hours to only a few days old, were wrapped in different colored blankets and laid out on makeshift beds.
All seemed to be on their best behavior with none crying as the camera panned around the room.
‘This is the NICU. In a bomb shelter. Can you imagine?’ said Dr. Denis Surkov, chief of the neonatal unit, at Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Children’s Clinical Hospital to the New York Times in a text message. ‘This is our reality.’
The babies were taken to the makeshift bomb shelter after the Ukrainian city was struck by missiles as Russia invaded the country early on Thursday morning.
‘We were nervous, very confused,’ Dr. Surkov, 51, said.
Dnipro was among more than a dozen cities and towns shelled by Russia on Thursday.
Missiles hit targets in Dnipro, Kharkiv and a number of other places.
Russian forces are said to have destroyed more than 70 military targets in Ukraine, 11 airfields among them, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed in a statement on Thursday.
A view of a damaged residential building, after Russia launched a massive military operation against Ukraine, in Kyiv
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