“There was a window in front of me. The doctors were covering it with their backs. And I gave birth to twins”

On March 18, 2022, Yana Shevchenko, a resident of Trostianets in Sumy Oblast, was in the maternity hospital. At that time, Russian troops were already in the town. On that day, three enemy soldiers fired the first shot at the hospital from a tank.  

“On March 18, they started shelling the hospital. I had contractions. We went down to the basement, and in the evening, we went upstairs. My water broke. I went into labor,” recalls Yana Shevchenko.

Four doctors were covering the window with their backs. A doctor and a midwife delivered the baby by the light of a flashlight. There was no light, no heat, and no sterility. During the month of occupation, eight babies were born in the maternity hospital. 

Yana gave birth to twins. The girls were named Anna and Maria.