Ukrainian Surgeons Offer Lifesaving Treatment to Soldiers as Counterattack Ensues

The devastating face of war materializes under the cover of darkness at an eastern Ukraine hospital, a sequence of stretchers bearing lifeless bodies ferried away from the battle front.

Soldiers arrive with blood-soaked bandages adorning their limbs, their faces speckled with fragments of shrapnel and their eyes wide with terror, frozen in disbelief. The frequency of such horrifying visits has been on the rise of late.

The heartbreaking cry of a soldier with an open wound on his thigh fills the air as healthcare workers transfer him to a surgical bed.

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From the trenches in the east, the woods in the north, and the vast southern fields, injured soldiers start to pour into the Mechnikov Hospital by late afternoon, with dozens more requiring urgent surgery brought in before dawn.

The escalating wave of injured soldiers aligns with the substantial counterattack initiated by Ukraine in June to reclaim its land, nearly one-fifth of which is currently under Russian occupation. According to hospital sources, who chose to remain anonymous, the surgeons at Mechnikov are possibly busier than at any other point since Russia launched its full-blown invasion 17 months ago.

The hospital, one of Ukraine’s largest, acts as a barometer for remote warfare. As battles intensify, so does the doctors’ caseload, which now involves performing between 50 to 100 surgeries every night.

Dr. Serhii Ryzhenko, the 59-year-old chief doctor at the hospital, grimly remarks with a fatigued smile, “We witness the worst of the front line here. Our 50 operating rooms are insufficient.”

Neurosurgeon Nikita Lombrozo operates on a patient who sustained a shrapnel injury on the left part of the brain, at Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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The Big Big News was granted unique access to the hospital last week, a 12-hour visit to observe the doctors and nurses caring for soldiers hurried from the battlefield to the operating room.

During the day, Mechnikov operates as a standard hospital, treating patients with cancer and other chronic illnesses. But every night brings the same grim routine: Injured soldiers arrive—many unconscious—and surgeons operate. The soldiers are then moved to recovery to make space for the next nightly wave of injuries.

“We hold our own front line here, we know we must do this, we must hold on,” said Dr. Tetyana Teshyna, a soft-spoken anesthesiologist clad in pink scrubs.

“It’s incredibly tough,” Teshyna said, maintaining her calm amid the organized chaos of this neat, orderly hospital. She wishes to say more but a nurse summons her. Another urgent surgery is on the horizon.

Ukrainian soldiers are engaging in battles across multiple combat zones along the 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) front line, but progress has been slow in the counteroffensive centered in the Russian-occupied eastern and southern parts of the country. Small units are sent to scout a deeply entrenched Russian army, and minefields must be cleared before Ukrainian soldiers can try to root them out.

A medical worker assists a shell-shocked Ukrainian serviceman as he enters Mechnikov hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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The initial momentum from the counteroffensive’s onset has yielded to sluggish advances. Despite the extensively publicized Western donations of military equipment that raised hopes of a swift Ukrainian breakthrough, territorial gains have been limited.

Russia, for its part, has escalated operations in northern Ukraine, near Lyman, and in the forests of Kreminna, possibly in an attempt to trap Ukrainian troops in the region.

Ukrainian soldiers battling along the front reveal that the intensity of Moscow’s artillery onslaught has caught them off guard, particularly in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, where demining operations leave them dangerously exposed to enemy fire.

Oleh Halah, 22, was struck by Russian tank artillery near Lyman this month, suffering injuries to his stomach and legs. Struggling to speak in the hospital’s intensive care unit, Halah reported that his platoon spotted the tank but was hit by artillery before they could reach their grenade launcher.

Chief Doctor Serhii Ryzhenko speaks to Oleh Halah, a 22-year-old Ukrainian soldier, injured by a Russian tank near Lyman, at Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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Halah said, “Twenty-four hours a day, constant shooting, all the time… if not (Russian) infantry, then artillery. It doesn’t stop.”

Other soldiers under the care of Mechnikov’s doctors were injured while clearing mines from Russian trenches. A Belarusian fighter aligning with Ukrainian soldiers, known by the call sign “Gold,” was injured in such a manner. He was slowly advancing with his unit at 5 meters (yards) per minute when he was ambushed by a Russian soldier hiding behind a dugout.

As the evening settles in, the activity in the trauma room amplifies, with new soldiers being admitted nearly every 15 minutes.

The cacophony of voices from doctors and hospital staff resonates in the hallways, discussing blood loss and medical histories. Diagnoses echo: shrapnel in the brain, burned respiratory tract, shrapnel in the legs, a bullet in the arm, and again, shrapnel in the brain.

According to doctors, shrapnel accounts for the majority of injuries treated at Mechnikov. Bullet wounds, however, are less frequent. Typically, wounded soldiers are initially treated in hospitals closer to the front line and then, once stabilized, they are transported to Mechnikov, a journey that can sometimes span half a day.

Dr. Simon Sechen admits a soldier with a broad gash on his shin. He explains that a tourniquet was applied for approximately half a day because the soldier was trapped in a remote trench, and his evacuation took hours. Despite Sechen’s efforts to restore blood flow, it might be too late. “We did all we could to save his leg,” he says.

Kaiman, a Ukrainian serviceman, flashes a Victory sign at the ICU of Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

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The soldier is then rushed to the operating room, where Dr. Yakov Albayuk quickly determines that to save the soldier’s life, the leg must be amputated. “After 12 hours without blood circulation, the limb will die,” explains Albayuk, stating that a tourniquet must be removed after two hours and reapplied, if necessary. “We’re losing people’s limbs due to small oversights.”

For Albayuk, every wound inspected on the operating

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More about Ukrainian Surgeons

• Russia-Ukraine conflict
• Mechnikov Hospital
• Medical care in war zones
• Ukraine’s Counteroffensive
• Injuries from shrapnel
• Treating wounded soldiers
• War and its impact on hospitals