More than half of Ukrainians say they suffer from some kind of mental health issue as a result of the war. Volunteer paramedic, Olha Mamusheva, joins us to discuss her mental health working on the frontline. And journalist Olena Kuk explains why she helped set up ‘Svidok’ – an online war journal where people can share their feelings anonymously. Today’s episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Arsenii Sokolov, Cordelia Hemming and Julie Ball. The technical producer was Philip Bull. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Richard Fenton-Smith. If you have been affected by any of the issues discussed in this episode you can visit BBC Action Line on www.bbc.co.uk/actionline Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480 You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord
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Dineshans, Tetris holding.
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Hello.
It's 940 days since Russia began its full scale invasion of Ukraine.
And it is four weeks since we spoke to actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry about mental health in Ukraine.
It became so apparent that what was being fought for was much more than territory.
Or if it was a territory, it was a territory of the mind and the spirit of a freedom and an openness and a desire to be able to talk openly.
And talking about mental health is a very, very healthy, ironically sign of that openness.
So many people got in touch following that episode.
Let me give you some examples.
Stephen on Discord said, this podcast really resonated getting inside the mind of someone who struggled mentally and dealing with it.
Bravo to all for recording such a taboo subject.
Sasha, also on Discord said, it's such a pertinent issue.
I doubt that there are many Ukrainians who will be free of mental health after this full scale invasion.
Even with those who left their country in early 2022, sometimes recognizing you have a problem can be a difficult thing.
Then asking for help can be even more difficult.
Sasha, I can't really agree more.
Also, many others got in touch.
Catherine in Litchfield here in the uk, Andy in Brisbane in Australia and James in Maryland in the United States.