EASTERN UKRAINE The evening is already dark when ambulances appear in the middle of nowhere. We are on a major road leading to the city of Dnipro.
There is a large ambulance bus next to us. Seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers are quickly transferred from small ambulances to a large bus.
The men were wounded on the same day. They have received first aid at the front and afterwards in the field hospital.
Now they are transferred to the central hospital in the city of Dnipro. It’s a couple hundred kilometers away.
The bus is equipped like a hospital ward. Six patients are connected to monitoring devices at the sleeping places. Two of them are in a coma.
The bus runs smoothly on the highway. The road was completed shortly before the Russian invasion. One president to Volodymyr Zelensky one of the major projects was the renewal of highways.
– Thanks to this bus, ambulances can return to frontline tasks where they are needed the most. We handle long-distance transportation with this bus, helping the wounded Danilo explain.
Ruslan, seriously wounded, has not seen his family for a year
Danilo is a lawyer by profession. Before the Russian invasion, he was a lawyer in criminal cases.
Now he helps wounded soldiers. Although their injuries are very serious, they want to talk. Strong pain medication has made the pain disappear.
– When the shooting started, we went to potero. There was a direct hit. My left hand was badly torn, Ruslan times traumatic events.
Four soldiers were wounded in the same situation. Ruslan’s leg was also damaged in the impact.
– When I woke up, I saw that my leg was dangling. My friend tied the compression bandage. My strength wasn’t enough for that.
After that, Ruslan lost consciousness. Thanks to the first aid of the medical staff, he is still here, alive.
– When I get a little better, I’ll go home. His wife and little daughter are waiting there. I haven’t seen them in a year. There have been no holidays, says Ruslan, who was at the front as a machine gunner.
Dmitro marvels at his evacuation after being wounded
Lie opposite Dmytro. He also wants to tell.
– The Russians tried for hours to take over our trenches. They struck from drones, used gas [kyynelkaasua] and struck heavily with artillery, Dmitro recounts the events of the night.
Dmitro was hit by shrapnel. It is the artillery that causes the most injuries.
Russia has had more artillery at its disposal than Ukraine in the tough battles in eastern Ukraine.
– I don’t know how they managed to evacuate me. They used stretchers. It’s really dangerous because there are a lot of drones. Many guys have been wounded in drone attacks.
These men fought on the front lines of the Donetsk region. Some were wounded in Bahmut.
They come from different parts of Ukraine. Dmitro is from Kharkiv. There is also a foreigner on the bus, Johnny.
He is from a Ukrainian family in Israel. He is only 22 years old.
– The Russians were only tens of meters away, and they were shooting with a tank, says Johnny.
He is not able to tell more precisely about the events of the melee. He suffered a severe concussion.
– I was lucky that I survived. I miss my friends, says Johnny.
There are dozens, sometimes hundreds of patients in the hospital every day
The bus continues for a few hours to Dnipro, one of the best hospitals in Ukraine. The wounded in the war in Eastern Ukraine have been treated there since 2014.
How many Ukrainian soldiers fall and are wounded is not publicly known. But there are a lot of them.
According to experts, Russia loses significantly more soldiers in its poorly planned attacks. Still, Ukraine also pays a heavy price.
We visit one of the frontline city hospitals. Before the war of aggression, the hospital treated civilians, now only soldiers.
We are not allowed to photograph the wounded when they are brought from the front line to the hospital.
In the hospital, efforts are made to stabilize the seriously wounded so that they can be transported further to Dnipro, for example by ambulance bus.
The hospital has three operating theaters. There are tens, sometimes hundreds of patients every day.
Nurse Anna: You have to try to adapt, otherwise you’ll burn out
The work is mentally demanding, says one of the nurses. Give it has been in a frontline hospital for almost a year. Before that, she was a nurse in the operating room.
– The difference is huge. It cannot be compared. For example, the state of patients when they enter the operating room. In civilian life, they were clean, washed. Soldiers may be covered in mud.
– Sometimes they haven’t eaten for days. Not because there is no food, but because they haven’t had time.
The biggest difference is mental stress. There are a lot of wounded people and it’s not always possible to help them.
– You have to try to adapt. Otherwise, you burn out quickly, says Anna.
His younger colleague, 33 years old Alyona, also tells about the spiritual side. It is tough.
– There are mentally difficult situations when soldiers who have lost an arm or a leg are brought here. The worst situation is when we cannot save a soldier’s life. It happens. It’s terribly heavy, says Alyona.
Both Anna and Alyona have come to the frontline hospital as volunteers.
– I couldn’t be at home and at my usual job when I knew that so many people needed help, Anna adds.
A volunteer helper died on a dark road
The ambulance bus of the Hospitallers organization is heading towards Dnipro. It’s quiet inside. The doctor and three medical men and women calmly assist the patients.
It’s pitch dark outside. There are mostly military vehicles on the road because there is a curfew.
Traveling is not without danger. An Austrian volunteer died when the previous bus drove into the rear of a tank at full speed in the middle of the night. It was pitch black.
– Now we always have a car driving in front, says Danilo.
The bus is named after the female doctor who passed away. Its name is Avstriyka.