When he became a doctor for the Ukrainian army, Vitaliï, aware of the “great responsibilities” that awaited him, promised himself to protect himself by avoiding any unnecessary stress, determined to hold on for the long term.
After more than two years of war, and as Russian soldiers push ever harder against the Ukrainian ranks on the eastern front, where he serves, reality is putting this will to the test.
“There is a high level (of fatigue), for everyone, at all levels,” the surgeon responsible for this stabilization point in the Donetsk region, where wounded soldiers are sent, told AFP.
Kyiv’s army faces a shortage of recruits. And the obvious exhaustion of the troops is a source of concern.
“The enemy attacks and advances, constantly presses… So the guys lack sleep and are exhausted,” adds Vitaliï, 38, after treating a seriously injured soldier.
They’re so bad and miserable when they get here, it breaks your heart.
Vitaliï, doctor for the Ukrainian army
In recent months, the men of Moscow have increased their capture of small villages. This advance, although in small steps, is a blow to the morale of the soldiers, in addition to causing losses in the Ukrainian ranks.
Post-traumatic stress
PHOTO VALENTYN OGIRENKO, REUTERS
A doctor examines a wounded soldier in the Kharkiv region.
The soldier that Vitaliï has just treated was, like many others, the victim of a Russian drone attack which killed one of his comrades and injured another.
He escaped, his legs should be able to be saved. But nothing could be done for his hand, which was almost completely torn off.
“We stabilized his condition” before he was hospitalized, explains Vitaliï.
“Without good medicine, there would be very heavy losses,” underlines Andriï, a 46-year-old rescuer. What he likes best is seeing “the look of the wounded when we bring them back to life.”
However, the caregivers, with exhausted faces, do not hide the fact that all this weighs on them.
“It’s exactly like being on a powder keg,” Vitaliï describes. Even at the medical post, “we expect a strike, because we are not far from the front line,” he explains.
Stabilization points, primordial structures, are often targeted.
Faced with this, everyone copes as best they can. Vitaliï, for example, tries to relieve pressure by doing a little sport. A few push-ups here and there, as well as a nap, when possible.
“And of course, the conviction that we can still survive carries us,” he assures, convinced that Ukraine will win.
Andriï has a less philosophical solution. To cope, “I take antidepressants,” he explains with a burst of laughter.
After two years on the front, he already knows he is incapable of “returning to civilian life” one day, consumed by “post-traumatic stress”.
“When we are here all the time, with blood all the time, death all the time,” the civilians “don’t understand us and we don’t understand them,” says the rescuer.
“All those who participated in this war will not come back, neither alive nor dead.”