Ukraine is on the edge of nervous breakdown

remember exactly how he ended up approaching a Ukrainian military checkpoint and shouting: “Putin is my president.” The fashion designer recalls growing panicked as war raged outside his home in northern Kyiv. He would cry uncontrollably at the news. He became obsessed with Russians, who were then advancing on the other side of a nearby forest. Perhaps he was searching for them when he left his home, in pyjamas, and went to Ukrainian positions in the woods. Instead, he remembers saying he was looking for Katya Chilly, a pop singer, before announcing his support for Russia’s president. The soldiers roughed him up.That afternoon Eduard was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Kyiv. Yaroslav Zakharov, a doctor who saw him, says his case is hardly unique. War has affected every Ukrainian. Stress is making people who were already at risk of mental illness more vulnerable. “People like to control things, and war doesn’t let you.” Ukraine’s health ministry is already predicting that 3m-4m people will need to receive drugs to manage mental-health problems resulting from the war. Some 15m will require other kinds of psychological support.