In the heart of Babyn Yar Memorial Park, stands Pavlivka, a Kiev psychiatric hospital named after Soviet neurologist Ivan Pavlov. Before the war, the medical center mostly welcomed people affected with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, but shortly after the beginning of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Pavlivka opened a 40-bed unit dedicated to soldiers with psychological trauma. There, they rest, receive basic medication and wait to be assessed by a medical commission. The director, Vyacheslav Mishyev, estimates that 70 per cent will have to go back to the frontlines.

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