David Beckham loans Instagram account to Ukrainian doctor in Kharkiv

KHARKIV, Ukraine — David Beckham’s Instagram followers received a crash course in field medicine and war-zone conditions Sunday after the former footballer temporarily handed over control of his Instagram account to a Ukrainian doctor working in the shell-shocked city of Kharkiv.

>> Read more trending news

Beckham’s Instagram Stories were flooded throughout the day with videos and photographs following Iryna, a pediatric anesthesiologist and head of the regional perinatal center, as she provided medical care in the northeastern Ukrainian city, The Guardian reported.

According to the British news outlet, Iryna showed Beckham’s 71.5 million followers the “cramped basement where all pregnant women and new mothers were evacuated to during the first day of the Russian invasion.” She also posted photographs of newborns receiving intensive care, including the use of oxygen generators donated by the United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF.

“We are probably risking our lives, but we don’t think about it at all. We love our work … Doctors and nurses here, we worry, we cry, but none of us will give up,” Iryna said in one clip.

Beckham has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2005, and urged his followers to support the charity, which is working in Ukraine to “provide families with access to clean water and food, delivering ready-to-use kits to maternity hospitals and ensuring child protections services continue,” the Guardian reported.

“Thanks to your donations, the oxygen generators they have received are helping newborns survive in appalling conditions,” Beckham said in a video post before relinquishing his account to Iryna’s real-time reports.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, has remained under near-constant military bombardment since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

©2022 Cox Media Group