A surgeon and, since 2023, the headman of Vorzel village, Viacheslav Prepodobnyi saved several lives on the operating table of the local maternity hospital during the occupation. Viacheslav Prepodobnyi was the only surgeon left in the village after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

In early March 2022, the maternity ward in Vorzel was filled with women in labour, while the gynecology department quickly became crowded with victims of gunshot and shrapnel wounds. All civilians! Among them was a child. Unfortunately, several of the severely injured, whom Viacheslav and other medics managed to stabilize in the maternity hospital’s operating room, did not survive the subsequent transport to medical facilities. After the evacuation of patients and medical staff through the “green corridor”, the doctor returned home from the maternity hospital. He came very close to losing his life!

The Russian military threatened the doctor with death at least three times. They prepared to execute him on his knees! They doused him with a flammable substance and attempted to set him on fire. They looted his home and took his car. However, the man endured the occupiers’ torment with dignity and waited till Vorzel is liberated.