death on the first day of work
Cherson mourns the loss of a young doctor
8/3/2023 3:27 p.m
Dmytro Bilyi has just finished medical school when a Russian missile hits the hospital in Kherson on his first day at work. His death causes much sympathy. Meanwhile, the Russians attack a symbolic cathedral in the city – and are particularly perfidious.
It was his first and also his last day at work after his studies: a young doctor was killed in a Russian attack on a hospital in Cherson. ENT doctor Dmytro Bilyi was completing his first day at Karabelezh hospital in the southern Ukrainian city on Tuesday when a Russian missile hit the clinic’s operating room. According to media reports, the 25-year-old was hit by shrapnel and died from his injuries. Four other hospital employees were injured.
The death of the young doctor triggers great sympathy and dismay in Ukraine. Many users shared photos of the killed specialist on social media. “He was very friendly, cheerful, a real mood cannon and always smiling,” wrote the student council of the Zaporizhia Medical University, where Bilyi studied, on Facebook. “Dmytro studied well, dreamed of becoming a qualified doctor and was very happy when he went to work today,” the post continued.
According to the Facebook post, Bilyi graduated from medical school in 2021 and then went on to do an internship at the ENT department of Karabelesh Hospital in Kherson – the clinic where he was now killed by a Russian missile on his first day of service as a doctor.
Church first looted, then shot at
Although Russia claims to attack only military targets in Ukraine, civilian targets are also hit every day. The Russian army has been attacking apartment blocks, clinics, schools, day-care centers and churches for the past 18 months. After destroying the Reversal Cathedral in Odessa a little over a week ago, the Russians have now also attacked an important sacred building in Kherson.
In the morning, Russian shelling damaged St. Catherine’s Orthodox Cathedral from 1781. A passing bus was also hit. Local authorities said three passengers and one passer-by were injured. A fire then broke out in the church. When rescuers arrived to put out the fire, the church was attacked again. According to the authorities, four employees of the state civil protection were injured.
Catherine’s Cathedral is one of the oldest Orthodox churches in Kherson and the burial place of Prince Grigory Potemkin, a favorite of Tsarina Catherine II and one of the founders of Kherson. During their retreat from Kherson in October 2022, the Russian military looted the church and took away Potemkin’s remains, which were kept in a crypt in the cathedral.