Actress Alyssa Milano has said Russia has “no morals” after hearing the stories of Ukrainian medical workers who were unable to save children after their hospital was hit by a missile.
The Charmed star was chatting with workers from the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital, which was hit by a Russian cruise missile, while children were being treated.
The hospital’s general director, Volodymyr Zhovnir, told Milano’s Sorry Not Sorry podcast, he had been forced to tell parents he “couldn’t do anything” to save their children due to the missile.
The podcast had been organised as part of a fundraiser to rebuild the hospital, bring run by United24, which Milano has recently become an ambassador for.
After hearing the stories, Milano said: “Imagine doing that work in the middle of a war zone, where your country has been illegally invaded by an authoritarian with a huge army and no morals.
“Imagine worrying not only about whether or not treatment will save this child, but whether or not you will die, simply because you’re doing your job in a place that has no business being so dangerous.”
Milano is best known for playing Phoebe Halliwell in the supernatural TV series Charmed, she also starred in the US soap Melrose Place, The Blue Hour, and Little Sister.
She is also known for being a keen activist since the 1980s, raising awareness of women and children with Aids, natural disasters, and the MeToo movement, as well as other causes.
Mr Zhovnir told the 51-year-old that electricity and water being turned off during the war had also put increased pressure on doctors’ work.
He said: “Treating children is a huge responsibility, and during the war, it is much bigger, as there are many moments that you have no control over, the turning off of electricity, water, or other critical systems for the patient.
“And these are all trifles compared to missile attacks on Ukrainian hospitals.
“For me, the worst thing is to tell the parents that I, as a doctor, couldn’t do anything, and the child died.
“When there is war, the risk of saying that I couldn’t save the child because a missile hit the hospital increases by a million times.”
Anna Isaeva, who works in the hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit, echoed his comments, and said workers were forced to use their own bodies as human shields during the attack.
She said: “We were near the children, covering them with pillows and blankets so that they would not be injured by debris.
“When we heard the explosions, the staff shielded the children with their own bodies. They were not hurt.”
One of the hospital’s surgeons, Ihor Kolodka, added that medics were blown across the room while operating on a five-year-old child.
He said: “We were in the operating room and started the surgery before the air raid alert started.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t take the child from the operating table. We had to complete the surgery. This child was five months old.”
Milano’s podcast is to be released in the coming days, and a fundraiser, set up by the United24 group she supports, for the Okhmatdyt hospital has since raised seven million US dollars to help rebuild it.
