War Trauma: Ukraine Struggles to Step up in PTSD Fight

"He didn't like the way the driver talked to him, accusing him of killing people in the war," Sidorenko's lawyer, Viktor Smaly, told BIRN. "They got into a brawl. Stas wanted to scare him off and fired."

The shot was fatal. Ever since, Smaly has struggled to convince the court to take into consideration what his client had been through in the years leading up to the altercation. Sidorenko has spent almost two years in detention.

"Obviously, he suffered from psychological trauma," Smaly said. "He was digging trenches in his garden, in a private house, to protect himself from enemies. He recalls the war constantly, his speech is twisted."

Incidents of aggression involving veterans of the Ukrainian war have become all too common, yet little has been done to advance the diagnosis and treatment of trauma suffered by those returning to civilian life.

The state response to post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, remains rooted in Soviet-era practices, underfunded and hamstrung by the stigma that still surrounds the issue.

It has left a vacuum that some veterans and private medical workers are trying to fill, inspired by innovative techniques employed elsewhere, with varying degrees of success.

Those in charge admit Ukraine needs a sea change in its response to war trauma.

"We don't have a culture of receiving psychological therapy in our country," said Sergei Chyzhevsky, head of psychological support in Ukraine's 50,000-strong National Guard.

"It needs to become habit. For civilians, it should be like washing your hands; for soldiers, like cleaning your weapon after battle."

War of attrition

Andriy Kozinchuk. Photo: Olena Solodovnikova

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has settled into a...