The man’s hand looked very different and hard to tell what it was. Like a peach that’s been cut and damaged.
“The Ukrainian army surgeon tapped the frozen fingers and said they were as hard as a rock. ”
That morning, he treated the second person with frostbite. He was in a small cottage near Avdiivka, a town under attack in Ukraine, standing next to a table where he did surgeries.
“The surgeon looked sad and said that he will likely lose both of his hands. ”
As Russia has been invading Ukraine for almost two years, the mood among Ukraine’s defenders is getting worse. They are tired, frustrated because they don’t have enough weapons, and they know the war won’t end quickly.
“My friend died today,” a soldier with a beard yelled as he burst into the 47th Brigade’s hidden hospital, swearing and letting in a blast of cold air.
A short time later, two more injured men were brought in through a different entrance for help. Vadym, 48, got hit in the arm by metal pieces while his group was attacking a Russian position in Avdiivka during the morning.
“It’s really difficult,” he said, as the surgeon, a senior lieutenant named Vitalii, came over to check the wound and two army medics removed Vadym’s dirty uniform.
“We don’t have the weapons we need. ”
It’s “The enemy has a lot of different kinds of equipment, while we have almost nothing,” said the other wounded man, 24-year-old Andrii, before showing signs of pain. An explosion from a Russian shell hit his trench while he was sleeping and a piece of shrapnel injured his ankle.
The doctor, Vitalii, worked at a hospital for kids before the war. He was tired as he talked about cutting off people’s arms and legs last year in Ukraine when they tried to fight back against Russia. He also talked about the injuries from pieces of metal that were causing him a lot of pain all the time.
“He said the West should help Ukraine more because if they don’t, their soldiers will have to fight against the evil that has invaded our country. ”
Up north, two big Ukrainian tanks drove on a dirty and snowy country road, then turned and went through another village that was badly damaged. They were heading towards the closest Russian military position, which was about 2km away.
After fighting for many months, the Kremlin’s forces seem like they could soon surround the ruins of Avdiivka. Some Ukrainian soldiers are saying that the town, where some of the worst fighting of the war has happened, could be taken over at any time.
“A Ukrainian soldier named Oleksii from the 110th Mechanised Brigade said that they are very unhappy, while standing next to a big mobile artillery piece and hearing the sound of Russian guns in the distance. ”
The artillery from the Czech Republic can hold and shoot up to 36 shells at once. Last year, it was regularly shooting 80 shells a day at Russian positions near Avdiivka. Not today
“We have two shells right now, but we don’t have any explosives for them, so we can’t shoot them. ” “We don’t have any more shells right now,” Oleksii said. He said that there were not enough of some things in many places, and this was causing big problems for the fighting in Avdiivka.
“We feel very responsible for our soldiers fighting in the town with only assault rifles. It reminds me of earlier in 2022 when there wasn’t enough ammunition and I got hurt. ”
Oleksii said he is afraid there will be a lot of people getting hurt like he saw in the hospital before.
In the hospital, the two injured men were now wrapped in bandages. The man named Vadym wanted to leave, but the doctor said he needed to stay for at least a week.
The doctor, Vitalii, laughed at the thought that some Ukrainian soldiers might be purposely getting frostbite injuries to avoid the terrible conditions on the front lines.
“That’s ridiculous” You must be really really stupid. We don’t have people leaving our group like that, and I’ve never experienced a situation like that. Instead, our fighters are very determined to stay strong,” he said.
The weather is very cold and they have to sit in holes in the ground without a heater when it’s -15 or -20C. If they use a heater, the Russians will be able to see them using special cameras.