Staff at a hospital in Kherson, Ukraine, went to great lengths to prevent Russia from taking control of the eight-month race in the city, adding a simulation of a COVID-19 outbreak to keep troops away.
Kherson, a southern port city, the first major Ukrainian city captured by Russian forces after the February invasion. The regional capital held for 8 months until the Russian government announced a withdrawal on November 9, dealing a humiliating blow to President Vladimir Putin’s war effort.
A doctor at the city’s Tropinka Hospital described the efforts he and his colleagues made to prevent the Russians from taking over the hospital to the Wall Street Journal.
“Our hospital may not be a Russian hospital,” lead physician Dr. Leonid Remiga told the Journal. “All the workers felt that way. . . I may just not leave them. “
A few days after Russian forces invaded the city, infantrymen showed up at the hospital with the aim of turning it into an army hospital. Remiga told them the hospital was facing an outbreak of COVID-19. Full protective equipment, such as coveralls and foot coverings, were put on and staff had put up cautionary signs on the walls of the hospital about COVID-19.
Believing there was an active epidemic, the troops left and the hospital was left in the hands of the Ukrainians.
At the meeting, Remiga told the Journal that Russian infantrymen had ordered him to tear down a Ukrainian flag hanging from the hospital, but he refused. He said he told the foot soldiers they could shoot him if they wanted, but he would not kidnap him.
Remiga’s detailed account of how he and other hospital members resisted a Russian takeover of the hospital adds to the stories of Ukrainian resistance that have emerged from Kherson since this month’s withdrawal.
The liberated Kherson is still dealing with the effects of the war. Ukraine has introduced citizens to evacuate before winter due to the destruction of the city’s electrical infrastructure. Russia also hit Kherson from afar, with the most recent bombing killing at least 10 civilians and wounding dozens more. .