Soccer star David Beckham handed over his Instagram account to a Ukrainian doctor caring for pregnant women and babies to highlight her work amid the Russian invasion.
On Sunday, the physician who was identified only as Dr. Iryna, shared video clips, photos and comments about what her team and their patients were experiencing with Beckham’s 71.8 million followers. She’s head of Kharkiv’s regional prenatal center, located about six hours from Kyiv.
On the first day of the war, all of the pregnant women and mothers at the center were evacuated to the basement.
“It was a terrible three hours that we spent together,” she noted on Instagram stories.
However, many of the babies could not be moved to the safety of the basement.
“Unfortunately, we can’t take babies who are in intensive care to the basement because they rely on life-saving equipment,” Dr. Iryna wrote alongside photos of newborns in the ICU.
The first days of the invasion were the most difficult, she said.
“We had to learn how to work with bombings and strikes,” Dr. Iryna noted. “My workday is 24/7. Now I’m not only the head of the center, but I continue to work as a pediatric anesthesiologist. I unload cargo, I work on logistics and offer emotional support.”
She added: “We are probably risking our lives but we don’t think about it at all. We love our work. Doctors and nurses here, we worry, we cry, but none of us will give up.”
Beckham also urged his followers to donate to UNICEF and to keep checking the site for more updates on the lives at risk in Ukraine.
“Together we can really make a difference,” he said.