KYIV, Ukraine—Krystyna Krayevska came to Kyiv from Poland, where she normally lives and works, for her niece Darynka’s sixth birthday in January. A few days later, Darynka was diagnosed with a brain tumor and, after complications following surgery, now lies on life support in Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital, Okhmatdyt.
A clash just outside the medical facility between advancing Russian units and Ukrainian forces over the weekend left bullet holes in some of the hospital’s windows. Darynka, unable to breathe on her own, remains in the pediatric intensive-care unit upstairs. Ms. Krayevska spends her days on a cot in a basement that has been converted into a bomb shelter, next to other parents and children who could be moved to its relative safety.
“I live in fear, but not for myself. Every morning I wake up, cross myself and pray that nothing hits the ICU room,” she said as yet another air-raid siren rang out, warning of an incoming Russian airstrike on this ancient city. “She is fighting for her life, up there, and we down here are fighting for our own lives, thanks to the Russian soldiers.”