Neurosurgeon Nikita Lombrozo operates on a Ukrainian soldier with a left brain injury, at Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine on Friday, July 14. AP Photo.
The horrors of war raged through the night in a hospital in eastern Ukraine, as stretchers carried wounded Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines in droves.
The Ukrainian soldiers arrived with bloody bandages, black faces and stunned eyes staring up at the ceiling, frozen with shock. Recently, such wounded soldiers have been brought to the hospital with increasing frequency.
Medical staff treat a seriously injured Ukrainian soldier in the hospital’s ICU. Photo Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
The number of wounded soldiers has increased in the massive counter-offensive that Ukraine has launched since June to try to retake nearly a fifth of Ukraine’s territory under Russian control. And it also means that surgeons at Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro are busier than ever.
In a war where the number of casualties is considered a state secret, Mechnikov Hospital — one of Ukraine’s largest — serves as a yardstick for fierce front-line battles. As the fighting raged, so did the doctors’ workload, with 50 to 100 operations per night.
A nurse prepares to treat Ukrainian servicemen in the hospital’s ICU on Saturday. Photo Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
During the day, Mechnikov operates like an ordinary hospital, treating patients with cancer and other chronic diseases. But every night at the hospital the same grisly scene unfolds: Wounded soldiers are brought in – many unconscious – and the surgeons do their best to save their lives. “death scythe”. Post-surgery soldiers will be rehabilitated elsewhere to make room for subsequent nightly surgeries.
“We keep our own front line here; We understand that we have to do this, we have to persevere,” said Dr. Tetyana Teshyna, a soft-spoken anesthesiologist who wears a pink gown.
Kaiman, a Ukrainian soldier shares his victory sign from his bed in the hospital’s ICU. Photo Evgeniy Maloletka/AP
As night fell, the pace of activity in the trauma room increased, with soldiers being brought in almost every 15 minutes.
Oleh Halah, 22, was hit by artillery fire from a Russian tank near Lyman this month, injuring him in the abdomen and leg.
In the hospital’s intensive care unit, Halah said his platoon saw the approaching tanks, but the Russian artillery hit them before they could fight back with their grenade launchers.
“24 hours a day, firing continuously at all times… if not Russian infantry, then artillery,” Halah described.
On Dr. Mykyta Lombrozov’s operating table was a soldier with a shrapnel wound to his left brain. It’s a complicated surgery that usually takes up to 4 hours. The fight forced Dr. Lombrozov to complete the operation in 55 minutes. He says he does it every day, sometimes as many as eight surgeries in a 24-hour shift.
“This is important to me. He’s our hero. That’s why I’m here. That’s why we all work here,” Dr. Lombrozov said, looking down. wounded Ukrainian soldier.
