Ukraine - living with the trauma of war
A Ukrainian soldier turned blacksmith and a former combat medic describe how the eight year conflict with Russia has left them with post traumatic stress disorder.
Olena was a medic in the war that started in 2014 when Ukraine's Crimean peninsula was annexed by President Putin. The conflict has rumbled on ever since in the country's eastern region of Donbas. Now there's a threat of a huge new invasion, with around 100-thousand Russian troops amassed on Ukraine's borders. These days, Olena works in a veterans' centre in Kyiv - but she, like thousands of others, suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and is haunted by dreams of her dead friends. She's already lost her family and home once and started a new life - and says she cannot do it again. Andrei, too, is traumatised. He fought for his country in 2014 and found he couldn't communicate with "normal people" when he returned home. He found solace in becoming a blacksmith. The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Fergal Keane has reported on the war since it began. For 5 Minutes On, they share with him how deeply they're still affected by what they experienced, and why they don't want it to happen again.
Photo credit: Maks Levin
