Overnight on Wednesday, which marked 1,680 days since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia unleashed a heavy barrage of strikes against energy infrastructure in Kyiv and other major cities. As weather forecasters predict freezing overnight temperatures in coming days, many suspect this is the beginning of a campaign to knock out Ukraine’s grid and leave people in the cold and darkness as winter approaches.

The Ukrainian people have been living in a state of full-scale war for more that four and a half years now, and the news that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has signed off on a defence budget of 17 trillion roubles – more than £150 billion – for the next year, will hit morale even further.

But for those in eastern parts of Ukraine, which have been in a state of conflict since 2014 since Russia annexed Crimea and occupied large swaths of territory, conflict has been a constant and traumatic reality of life.

We often read of the Ukrainian people being “resilient in the face of conflict”. And so they are. But Gwendolyn Sasse and Deirdre MacManus believe this is unhelpful, as it can mask the trauma that has inevitably affected so many in this war-torn country.

The two researchers are part of a team that has been assessing the level of trauma in Ukraine. Their study, published this week, estimates that about one-third of civilians display symptoms which are consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSFD) and its close companion CPTSD (the “c” being for complex PTSD, which can also bring persistent difficulties with self-worth, emotional regulation and relationships).

Importantly, the figures........

© The Conversation