Giving birth amid bombs

DANGER: PATIENTS STRESSED, MALNOURISHED AS RUSSIAN TROOPS ADVANCE

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» Last maternity hospital in east of country will have to relocate soon.

Patients and doctors in the last maternity hospital in eastern Ukraine get little sleep now.

In Pokrovsk, a transport hub and a key prize for invading Russian forces where the hospital is situated, the bombardments are becoming louder and nearer.

"We had 10 attacks last night," Ivan Tsyganok, the 58-year-old head of the medical facility said. "They aren't getting enough sleep. They're malnourished. They're stressed," he said, describing the general state of his patients.

Pokrovsk, which once had a population of around 60 000 people, lies just 20km from looming Russian troops. Moscow is also seeking to seize a major highway nearby that links Pokrovsk to Kramatorsk, the largest town in the industrial Donetsk region under Ukrainian control.

The maternity unit there has been destroyed.