How war leaves deep trauma among survivors in Ukraine

Jonathan Scott (real name withheld) had worked on the front lines in Ukraine since the start of the war, helping wounded soldiers and providing aid to civilians. Then on 30 January, a drone attacked his crew, and in a split second, he went from being a caregiver to becoming a patient himself.

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Mr Scott recalled the hours leading up to the attack. He had gone around Pokrovsk, a city in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, that morning in search of people trapped in their homes, fearing possible drone strikes from Russia, and those already injured who needed medical attention. The city was one of the areas in Ukraine heavily targeted by the Russian military.

That morning, Mr Scott and other members of the crew had rescued eight Ukrainian civilians and driven them out of the city in a white van. Hours later, at noon, the group returned to rescue more people, and in fact were almost successful as they were already driving out of the city when a drone crashed into the top of the van.

Although Mr Scott survived the attack, he lost his left arm and leg to it.

For months, Mr Scott struggled with his new reality. He was unwilling to accept that he would no longer be as active as he had been.

“It was the hardest part of it for me,” he told PREMIUM TIMES and other reporters in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine.

Mr Scott was an English sailor before arriving in Ukraine in 2022 to support victims of the war. He had lived a “very active life.”

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“The hardest part was accepting that I could no longer do those kinds of stuff I once did anymore. I have crossed the Atlantic nine times, travelled around the world, and provided humanitarian services. I went from being confident in myself, running around boats, frontlines, to having to put on a prosthetic leg if I want to walk,” he said.

“It is tough navigating the trauma and mental toll this takes on you,” he declared.

Mr Scott narrated that it was this experience that brought him to the Superhumans Center in Lviv, western Ukraine, where he received medical and psychological support for months.

The Superhuman Center is a charity medical centre designed to provide care for victims of war.

Last year, PREMIUM TIMES reported how the modern facility was providing comprehensive care, including prosthetics, reconstructive surgery, rehabilitation, and psychological support for the victims.

The clinic was established in October 2022, about eight months into the Ukraine-Russian war, which has now led to the death of at least 12,654 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations.

At least 29,392 civilians have been injured since 2022. In July 2025, the war-torn country recorded 1,388 civilian injuries. This represents the highest monthly figure since May 2022.

Mr Scott, who began working at the centre after his treatment, said the facility identified a similar pattern of trauma amongst victims of the war.

He explained that patients often struggled with anxiety, hypervigilance, irritability, and deep sadness.

“This is why I accepted to work here. To help people recover mentally. Being in a world where you become disadvantaged and have to readjust to a new way of life after enduring a violent attack,” he said.

The facility manager in Lviv, Konstantin Serhiy (real name withheld), told PREMIUM TIMES that victims also resort to drug abuse and struggle with addictions or numb the pain and mental struggles they deal with as a result of the war.

Multiple studies have shown that the mental impact of the war is widespread and severe, affecting civilians, soldiers, and displaced populations.

A report by the New Lines Institute, a Washington-based research organisation, showed that victims, particularly those from heavily shelled cities like Mariupol, Kharkiv, and Bakhmut, experience PTSD symptoms.

“This is why we prioritise mental support and therapy,” Mr Serhiy said. “Our treatment for the physical health of the patients will be for nothing if we don’t provide mental care.”

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“For those addicted to drugs, we encourage them to go to a rehabilitation centre and get clean, and with mental support afterwards,” he added.

Officials at the medical centre told reporters that patients at the clinic are referred to as “superhuman” as a form of support and recognition.

Mr Serhiy said that there’s always a risk of being patronising when dealing with disabilities.

“The term superhuman is that you are a human who has gone through a difficult situation. That you have survived the war. We want our patients to be confident, come off better than they were when they arrived, not just physically but also mentally,” he said.