Those who save lives: stories of Ukrainian medics about the war

Ukrainian medical workers are real heroes who without a doubt sacrifice their own safety and are ready to give their lives to save others. From the first days of the war, they accept cruel challenges and help people despite risks and losses.

They provide surgeries under fire in semi-darkness. They deliver babies in dirty and cold basements. They take the wounded out of the battlefield. And they bring people back from the other world, resolutely standing between the patient and death. Ukrainian medics do everything possible and impossible so that the hearts of Ukrainians and Ukraine continue to beat. They save lives and bring Victory closer.

Some medics entrusted their stories to the Museum of Civilian Voices of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. Especially for Medical Worker's Day, the Museum gathered the stories in a separate collection.

 We were shocked when we saw through the wound how the girl’s heart was beating
01.06.2022
Sergey Chornobryvets
"We were shocked when we saw through the wound how the girl’s heart was beating"
The whole maternity hospital bounced up and down from the explosion
25.05.2022
Olena Shilova
"The whole maternity hospital bounced up and down from the explosion"
We received a call: a Russian tank ran over civilians. A teenagers leg was cut off
21.07.2023
Kateryna Raydenko
"We received a call: a Russian tank ran over civilians. A teenager's leg was cut off"
All the staff, all the patients on gurneys and the wounded were thrown out into the street, even the children
21.07.2023
Vasyl Panchak
"All the staff, all the patients on gurneys and the wounded were thrown out into the street, even the children"
We continued to work when the missile hit us!
21.07.2023
Oksana Shparuk
"We continued to work when the missile hit us!"
In memory of my fiancé, I continue helping people
21.07.2023
Hanna Kryuk
"In memory of my fiancé, I continue helping people"
There was an arm torn off, half a head missing. I did not recognize the women I knew
21.07.2023
Vitaliy Hvozdik
"There was an arm torn off, half a head missing. I did not recognize the women I knew"
We havent seen our children for a month! And when we started to get to them from the occupied Trostianets, the town was liberated!
13.07.2023
Inna Drygalovska
"We haven't seen our children for a month! And when we started to get to them from the occupied Trostianets, the town was liberated!"
People gave birth in the basement, they did not go home from the hospital – it was scary
27.12.2022
Serhii Baksheev
"People gave birth in the basement, they did not go home from the hospital – it was scary"
“He still had so much to do...”
08.12.2022
Irina
“He still had so much to do...”
The worst thing is to see children with gunshot wounds
10.08.2022
Petro Tarasovych Ksenyk
"The worst thing is to see children with gunshot wounds"
They shelled the queue for bread: fifty wounded were brought to us that day...
13.12.2022
Oleksandr Kryuk
"They shelled the queue for bread: fifty wounded were brought to us that day..."
“You walk down an empty street and see many dogs pulling bones, and some of these bones are human, it smells like death…”
08.05.2023
Natalia Lelyukh
“You walk down an empty street and see many dogs pulling bones, and some of these bones are human, it smells like death…”
“Within five minutes, eight wounded people were brought in, with various severity levels!”
18.06.2023
Pavlo Yefimov
“Within five minutes, eight wounded people were brought in, with various severity levels!”
 “We rushed out of the houses and started extinguishing [the fire]! People said, “There is a wounded woman there, in the cellar!”
28.06.2023
Valentina Skopych
“We rushed out of the houses and started extinguishing [the fire]! People said, “There is a wounded woman there, in the cellar!”
Burnt out cars, the road is covered with shell casings. And we are looking for the wounded in the forest
11.07.2023
Olena Alekseenko
"Burnt out cars, the road is covered with shell casings. And we are looking for the wounded in the forest"
“I had a notebook where I wrote down when and why a person died”
11.07.2023
Svitlana Loboda
“I had a notebook where I wrote down when and why a person died”
The remaining team worked non-stop 24/7. We were living in the hospital!
11.07.2023
Valentin Bagnyuk
"The remaining team worked non-stop 24/7. We were living in the hospital!"
 When a three-year-old patient died of a wound, even the men cried
27.01.2023
Andrii Levkivskyi
"When a three-year-old patient died of a wound, even the men cried"
“The woman in labor was in the ambulance, they were digging through the children’s belongings with a gun. And we needed to get to the hospital soon!”
11.07.2023
Kateryna Molybog
“The woman in labor was in the ambulance, they were digging through the children’s belongings with a gun. And we needed to get to the hospital soon!”
“A guy was brought in. He was already nearing the end of his life when he opened his eyes and said so clearly, “I’m alive!”
09.06.2023
Svitlana Sokyrka
“A guy was brought in. He was already nearing the end of his life when he opened his eyes and said so clearly, “I’m alive!”
“Why did you burn Mariupol? Why did you kill its citizens?”
26.01.2023
Iryna Dagaeva
“Why did you burn Mariupol? Why did you kill its citizens?”
“In Kharkiv, mothers gave birth in basements. Everyone got united”
10.04.2023
Turyne Omarova
“In Kharkiv, mothers gave birth in basements. Everyone got united”
“The worst part was the injured children. The entry wound is tiny. And everything inside is torn apart”
13.07.2023
Mykola Khristoforov
“The worst part was the injured children. The entry wound is tiny. And everything inside is torn apart”
“He tells me, “Ms Oksana, change you coat and hairstyle, as Russians are hunting for you”
31.05.2023
Oksana Turovetz
“He tells me, “Ms Oksana, change you coat and hairstyle, as Russians are hunting for you”
“In the morning, they came to us and said: get out of here. Otherwise, there will be a mass grave here”
02.05.2022
Anna Rastyagaeva
“In the morning, they came to us and said: get out of here. Otherwise, there will be a mass grave here”
We were crying over the wounded. Its impossible to get used to it
24.07.2023
Anastasia Savula
"We were crying over the wounded. It's impossible to get used to it"
“It was horror, it was tears, but I understood that if I, the chief nurse, give up, the girls would also start to panic”
24.07.2023
Hanna Yastrebova
“It was horror, it was tears, but I understood that if I, the chief nurse, give up, the girls would also start to panic”
You are saving a patient, and people pass by to the warehouses. And no one helped
11.07.2023
Serhiy Tertyshnik
"You are saving a patient, and people pass by to the warehouses. And no one helped"
“My wife died. She burned to death. I don’t know how I didn’t go mad then”
26.10.2022
Oleksandr Martyntsov
“My wife died. She burned to death. I don’t know how I didn’t go mad then”
“It took me a month to recover from the shock. I simply could not stop crying for a week. It is unimaginable that so many people were killed...”
06.02.2023
Olena Matyushina
“It took me a month to recover from the shock. I simply could not stop crying for a week. It is unimaginable that so many people were killed...”
“They began to dismantle the rubble and bring young people who worked in the Regional State Administration – it was a nightmare”
24.07.2023
Dmytro Fedorenko
“They began to dismantle the rubble and bring young people who worked in the Regional State Administration – it was a nightmare”
In the basement, we rescued the wounded, performed operations and even performed limb amputations
22.08.2022
Victoria Oleksandrivna Pashkova
"In the basement, we rescued the wounded, performed operations and even performed limb amputations"
“In the first days of the war, we worked in five operating rooms simultaneously”
14.06.2023
Yaroslav Zraitel
“In the first days of the war, we worked in five operating rooms simultaneously”
If this bomb had hit the radiology [department], it would have been a small Chornobyl
11.07.2022
Dmytro Viktorovich Dmytro
"If this bomb had hit the radiology [department], it would have been a small Chornobyl"
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