Over 500 war veterans committed suicide in Ukraine


Almost everyone who fought in Donbas is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

“According to the military prosecutor’s office, at the beginning of June 2017, there are about 500 cases of suicide among the participants of the antiterrorist operation after returning from war zones,” Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov wrotes in his article “Hybrid World Strategy”.

In his article Avakov writes on the impact of armed conflict on the health of participants: 90-95% of those who went through the war have social and medical problems — above all, health problems. A third of the former fighters are diagnosed with PTSD, which often ends with suicide.

Avakov compared Ukrainian PTSD with that of Afghan or Vietnam.

The Minister added that a year after the outbreak of the conflict in Donbas, the number of complaints of the fighters’ family members about domestic violence increased eight-fold.

More than 280 thousand people in Ukraine have the status of combatants.

Cover photo – Vadzim Holub

TWITTER