Only one-fourth of all Donbas war veterans have a posttraumatic syndrome, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.
“Twenty-six percent of all war veterans had indications of a posttraumatic syndrome. Of these 26%, 80% of the personnel can go back to a normal psychological functioning within two months,” Nazim Agayev, the head of the Research Center for Humanitarian Issues of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, told a briefing in Kyiv on Sept.27.
Oleh Druz, who was fired from his post as chief of the psychiatric clinic at the Main Military Clinical Hospital, earlier said that “93% of the participants in the military operation in Donbas pose a potential threat to society and need treatment.” Agayev responded to that by saying: “Dramatizing and manipulation of figures is not good for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but is used by our neighbors up and right, if you look at the map.”
“There is speculation, fact-rigging on this issue, and we are already giving real figures, which are lower than the earlier stated ones,” he said.
Yuriy Spitskiy, deputy head of the psychological support directorate of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, for his part, said the Defense Ministry gives a lot of attention to working with the psychological state of servicemen as “it is personnel and human resources used in missions.” Psychological assistance has been given to 4 380 servicemen since the beginning of the war in Donbas, he said.
“Since the beginning of 2017, psychologists have worked with 13 000 servicemen. A total of 2 063 servicemen underwent rehabilitation in psychological rehabilitation establishments, 75 have undergone such rehabilitation abroad since the beginning of the year. A total of 1 742 participants in the military operation in Donbas and 111 their family members received treatment in health centers and resorts,” Spitskiy said.
