Hospital clowns bring joy to young Ukrainian cancer patients who survived Russian missile attack
Two months after Russia bombed Ukraine's largest children's hospital, some of the young cancer patients who survived the strike are having their spirits bolstered by hospital clowns
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Their costumes are put on with surgical precision: Floppy hats, foam noses, bright clothes, and a ukulele with multicolored nylon strings.
Moments later, in a beige hospital ward normally filled with the beeping sounds of medical machinery, there are bursts of giggles and silly singing.
As Ukraine’s medical facilities come under pressure from intensifying attacks in the war against Russia's full-scale invasion, volunteer hospital clowns are duck-footing their way in to provide some badly needed moments of joy for hospitalized children.
The “Bureau of Smiles and Support” (BUP) is a hospital clowning initiative established in 2023 by Olha Bulkina, 35, and Maryna Berdar, 39, who already had more than five years of hospital clowning experience between them. “Our mission is to let childhood continue regardless of the circumstances,” Bulkina, told The Associated Press.
