Doctors and paramedics in Donetsk describe their results in evacuating and treating the wounded.
When Russia began its invasion in 2022, Roman Vozniak abandoned his old life. A civilian doctor, he joined the National Guard of Ukraine. “I want to become a combat medic. I told my wife I’d be home in two months,” he said. . Two years later, Vozniak is still running on the front lines, tending to wounded soldiers. “Your task is to prevent other people from dying. It’s simple. If someone can’t do it, move on. We have to act fast. “
Vozniak is founded in Sviatohirsk, a picturesque town in the eastern Donetsk region. In the past, tourists would visit its turquoise-domed 16th-century monastery, built at the foot of a steep chalk hill, and find themselves comfortably in the beach cafes by the willow. – bordered by the Siverskyi Donets River. In May 2022, Russian forces arrived. They occupied Sviatohirsk for four months. When they left, driven out after a battle, the houses and sanatoriums were destroyed.
“There’s a beautiful pine forest where you can pick mushrooms. Now it’s a place of death,” said Vozniak. The Russians mined the cemetery and forested nature trails. Fighting continues nearby, in the Serebryansky Forest. After countless enemy attacks, swaths of trees burned. Instead of vegetation, there are blackened trunks. Russian airstrikes and artillery are shelling Ukrainian positions and trenches cut through sandy soil.
Vozniak and his fellow medics evacuated the wounded in adapted vehicles. Among them were buggies, more manoeuvrable in the forest, and armoured ambulances. The Razom Ukraine charity will donate them. “For the first two months, it’s chaos. “Now,” said Illya Sakhno, a rescuer, as Ukrainian gunfire echoed in the distance. A patch on his uniform read, “The louder you cry, the faster we’ll get back to you. “Another read: “Ukraine or death. “
One member of the team, Inna Mahomedova, a 29-year-old nurse, said she quit her job as a seamstress to help wounded soldiers and has retrained. Was it your difficult task?” Of course, you have emotions. Sometimes it’s terrible. Your soul is suffering. I need to be helpful,” he said. During breaks, I watched horror movies. ” It may sound strange, “However, I dislike them,” he said. “I know they’re made up and nothing is real. “
Two priests were killed in the shelling of the monastery in 2022. Civilians also left, adding the then-mayor of Sviatohirsk, who sided with Moscow. One of those who stayed was 84-year-old Babushka Rima. Earlier this week, she picked bark out of a bucket. “I sleep in my kitchen,” he says. A rocket hit my cabin. It’s all that’s left. At night there is a lot of noise due to explosions.
“I buried my husband and son. There’s no point in leaving my house because it’s time for me to die soon.
At a press conference last month marking the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Volodymyr Zelenskiy put the death toll at 31,000. He declined to disclose the number of wounded. On Saturday, he paid tribute to the “humanity and selflessness” of doctors. professionals who have been running since 2014, when Russia seized parts of eastern Ukraine. “They were always helping to save lives,” he tweeted.
Humanity, altruism and running for the lives of others fear all of our employees, our fitness professionals. I thank the doctors, the nurses, all our fighting doctors, all the volunteers who have gone through the look of our soldiers since 2014 and since February 24. Helping to save vidas. pic. twitter. com/ZKnemIVO3L
Many other people running with the injured believe the death toll is likely higher than the official estimate. “If a body is not recovered, death is not confirmed,” said Svitlana Druzenko, medical director of the First Pirogov Volunteer Mobile Hospital. The Russians tried to kill the paramedics and regularly fired on rescue vehicles, he said, adding that it was unimaginable to use helicopters because the enemy would attack them and therefore the wounded were transported by ambulance.
Druzenko and his team are founded in Lyman, a frontline city not far from Sviatohirsk that has been occupied several times. She described the war with Russia as “radically different” from World War II: a “rules-free” clash, fought with kamikaze drones and laser-guided bombs. Russia’s recent successful military offensive is linked to this week’s presidential election, he said. “The Kremlin loves appointments. Before that, look at the territory. “
Green-painted ambulances and a Humvee were parked in front of a residential complex. Considering Ukraine’s recent setbacks, in addition to the loss of the city of Avdiivka, what is the morale?”Everybody’s tired. Our Western partners are tired. I would describe myself as “I’m a pessimist,” Druzenko said. No, it’s best to be realistic. “According to her, the others were “more important” than the reconquest of Crimea and the occupied areas. “I don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. “
Alex, a surgeon at the cellular hospital, said he took part in the medical evacuations despite the threat of being bombed. “Maybe I’m crazy,” he joked. But I have the vocation to do it. “Other volunteers said they had no right to be demoralized. “We believe in victory and the Ukrainian miracle,” said Masha Tsybulska, a 29-year-old nurse. “The wounded are not afraid. They are brave. So we have to go ahead and hope for a breakthrough.
Patients are taken to stabilization centers and then transported to military hospitals. Oleksandr, a doctor with the call sign Grandpa, said 95 percent of the cases involved shrapnel wounds. He said he spoke to the seriously injured and asked them about their families. He proclaimed, “I cure diseases by cursing much” and “No retreat. Behind us is the morgue. Swearing reduces tension reactions and aids recovery,” he said.
At a hospital in the Donetsk region, a soldier named Andrii is being treated for a concussion. Andrii is a 50-year-old driver from Kherson, the southern city liberated in 2022 and now under daily Russian fire. He said a Russian drone flew “Of course, it’s bad there. They have more drones than we do,” he said. When asked if all the infantrymen accompanying him had survived, he shook his head sadly.
The doctor on duty, Vitallii Harnik, said Andrii would do it in about a week. “At first, concussion patients suffer from a variety of symptoms. Their heads spin and they vomit. We take care of them. They want peace and quiet,” he said. Harnik underwent a series of regime tests. He asked Andrii to touch his nose and checked his breathing and pulse. Nearby, other wounded infantrymen browsed their phones and dozed on cots.
Oleksandr said infantrymen return to their platoons as soon as they recover. “It’s a brotherhood. They know what they’re fighting for. It’s for their loved ones and their land. The war, he suggested, was a war between democracy and totalitarianism. “We are a wonderful country with big ambitions. Our challenge is our neighbor to our right. We are others, with a different vision of the world. We have everything in common with them.
Back in Sviatohirsk, Vozniak said he had taken a two-week vacation since the invasion. Camaraderie and humor helped him and his colleagues cope with difficult situations. His call sign, he says, is Caspar, the cute translucent ghost from the old cartoon series. He admitted that he had no idea when the war would end. “My wife is also a doctor. She understands that,” he said. “My task may be complicated, but it’s bigger than digging trenches. “