Okhmadyt hospital tragedy: man dies while taking ill granddaughter to surgery

Source: Radio Svoboda

“He said that everything will be okay”.  A Ukrainian woman from Kropyvnytskyi shared a heart-wrenching tale about her father who died in the Russian attack on Kyiv children’s hospital.

62-year-old Volodymyr Petrechenko lost his life on July 8 after he brought his granddaughter to the “Okhmatdyt” hospital for surgery. As the young girl was in a surgery room, a Russian missile struck the medical facility. The girl survived, but the man who stepped out to get some fresh air was killed instantly.

Olena Vynnychenko, Volodymyr’s daughter, recounted the details of that tragic day. The family had arrived at the hospital for her daughter Masha’s surgery.

“During the initial anaesthesia, the first explosion occurred. When Masha was carried out, she was still under anaesthesia. I remember the anaesthesiologist bringing her out and I felt a sense of relief as I saw her without any visible injuries or blood. Masha was left in the corridor with the operating surgeon and a nurse,” Elena recounted.

After the surgery, Olena was asked to go downstairs to meet her parents. When she went outside, she failed to reach her father by phone and grew increasingly anxious.

“Outside, I met my mother, who was also trying to call dad. The calls went unanswered, and it brought aa lump to my throat. Then in a blur someone led me to my father. He was lying on the concrete near the hospital building in the debris. He was pale, bleeding, and had traumatic amputations. We rushed him to the ambulance,” Olena said.

She returned to the hospital where Masha was still receiving treatment.

“When I arrived, they asked why I had been gone so long, but I couldn’t explain. I’m thankful to the medical worker who stayed with Masha, changing her bandages and looking after her despite her continuing to spit blood. He helped us get her to the ambulance,” she added.

Olena said she wanted to share her story so that her father’s memory lived on.

“I don’t want my father to become just part of  the [sad] statistics,” she said.