Dopis kolegů z Charkova

Dear colleagues!

On February 24, 2022, at 4 am, aircraft and intercontinental missiles began to bomb Ukraine. Thus began the Russian-Ukrainian war, which continues to this day.

The Russians thought that in a few days they would be able to make a blitzkrieg, destroy the political leadership of Ukraine, establish a government loyal to the Russians, and destroy Ukraine as an independent state. But the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian defense forces continue to fight the Russian-fascist troops. Why do I call them that: they are fighting not only with the defense forces of Ukraine, but also destroying the civilian population (women, children, the elderly, people with special needs), bombing our cities, schools, hospitals, houses of our citizens. Children, women, the elderly are dying. This is what the Nazis did during World War II. There are thousands of reports about these war crimes of Russian soldiers, crimes against humanity, which can be found on international Internet resources. Not only Ukraine, but also about 40 states have filed applications for consideration of these crimes in the International Criminal Court in The Hague (Netherlands).

The war resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe: more than 3 million Ukrainians (the vast majority of them are children, women, elderly people) became refugees who were accepted in other states, including the Czech Republic; more than 2 million became internally displaced citizens.

Most of the authors of the article (my psychologists and I) work in the city of Kharkov, which has been bombed from aircraft, cruise missiles, and multiple rocket launchers since the first days of the war. The enemy is 20 km from the city.

We all protect our children, our families, the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine. And this is what every citizen of Ukraine does, the war has united us all very much, the motivation to defend our country is the highest, hatred of the enemy is growing every day.

The entire military infrastructure has been destroyed, now the civilian infrastructure that provides the city with heat, water, electricity is being destroyed, which creates a humanitarian catastrophe. In Kharkiv alone, more than 40 schools and 600 houses have already been completely destroyed, thousands of houses have been damaged, hundreds of civilians, including children, have died and thousands have been injured.

We all ask the world community: close the sky of Ukraine! If this is not done, innocent civilians will die every day!

My colleagues and I are defending our Kharkiv with weapons in our hands, and we also provide psychological assistance to everyone who needs it.

Victory will be ours. Glory to Ukraine!

Best regards,

Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Colonel Ihor Prykhodko,

Head of the Scientific Center of the National Academy of the National Guard of Ukraine, Kharkiv, Ukraine.

03/16/2022

P.S. While I writing this letter, they did not stop bombing us. As long as we are alive, we are hold on.