Doctors detail ‘miracle’ Ukrainian boy shot point blank in the face by Russian soldiers and lived
A Ukrainian boy who was shot at close range during the Russian invasion of his country has lived a miraculous life.
The 16-year-old civilian victim, whose name has not been released, was shot in the neck from a Soviet-issued handgun just six inches away.
In the botched execution-style shooting, the 9mm round entered his neck, grazed the tip of his spine and lodged in his upper jaw.
The teenager was taken to a hospital in the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia and miraculously made a full recovery.
An X-ray of the head and neck showed that the bullet had lodged in the skull of the 16-year-old Ukrainian boy.
The bullet that doctors removed was 9mm x 18mm
His story was revealed in the American Journal of Case Reports by doctors of the National Pirogov Memorial Medical University.
The boy’s face was crooked as the left side of his face and neck swelled and he was unable to fully open his mouth or lift his left arm due to the damage to his spinal cord.
By looking at his 6mm gunshot wound, doctors estimated that he was shot from about six inches by a Makarov pistol.
The report did not explicitly state that a Russian soldier fired the gun, but during the war there have been reports of Russian army men killing civilians, including children, as an execution.
The Ukrainian boy was x-rayed and fitted with a neck brace for support to ensure his head and neck were held in place.
During the surgery, doctors made an incision in the lower part of his jaw, dissected soft tissue in the area, and removed the bullet casing from his skull.
They then treated the site with an antiseptic solution, drained the wound and sutured it.
The boy was discharged from the hospital nine days after the operation.
He was advised to continue ‘sanatorium restorative treatment according to individual rehabilitation plan’.
The boy was treated at the National Pirogov Memorial Medical University hospital in Vinnytsia in central Ukraine
By looking at the teen’s injuries, doctors estimate he was shot from about six inches by a Makarov pistol
The main principles of the sanatorium regime are fresh air, exercise and proper nutrition.
He also had postoperative physical therapy.
More than 100,000 Ukrainian civilians were killed during the Russian invasion, according to Ukraine’s chief war crimes prosecutor.
That is ten times more than the current official death toll of 8,000.
More than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians were killed in the siege of the port city of Mariupol alone.
Meanwhile, Russian casualties are estimated at 200,000.
Last week, an irate Vladimir Putin condemned the International Criminal Court’s “outrageous” decision to issue him an arrest warrant for war crimes in Ukraine.
The ICC called for Putin’s arrest and accused the despot of committing war crimes by kidnapping Ukrainian children from their homes and deporting them to Russia to give them to Russian families.
It also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Russia’s “Child Rights Commissioner,” on the same allegations.
The Kremlin called the court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant against Putin “outrageous and unacceptable”; Ukraine, on the other hand, welcomed the decision, saying that “the wheels of justice are turning.”
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, said hundreds of Ukrainian children had been brought to Russia from orphanages and children’s homes.
He said, “Many of these children, we claim, have since been given up for adoption in the Russian Federation.”
United Nations data shows that more than 7,199 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and 11,756 injured since Russia’s invasion.