As Russia's war in Ukraine drags on, both sides suffer heavy losses. DW met a surgeon couple volunteering to treat wounded Ukrainian soldiers. After an attack, they even had to operate on their own family.

Kyiv

Ukrainian surgeons Oksana and Stanislav have dedicated four years to treating trauma patients, particularly wounded soldiers, despite limited resources. They rely on private and international support to provide free consultations and advanced bone reconstruction, with 85% of rehabilitated soldiers returning to service.

The couple's commitment intensified after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, which forced them to flee Bucha. Oksana's mother was killed and her father wounded during their escape; Oksana later operated on her father herself. In her mother's honor, she founded a charitable initiative to support displaced persons and military personnel, and the couple continues their work as long as their help is needed.

Ukrainian surgeons rebuild lives amid war and loss

Trauma patients, consultations, operations, helping Ukrainian soldiers get back on their feet. This has been life for Oksana and Stanislav for four years now. Stanislav works with large bone injuries. This man is missing a piece of bone, so we operated on him. We rebuilt the bone here and put in a device, and now we are lowering the bone millimeter by millimeter every day until it connects with the native bone. As long as we turn it millimeter by millimeter, new bone will grow in this place. Resources are scarce. What the doctors can't get from the state, they seek from private foundations, including international ones. Sometimes they also manage to operate at the private clinic where they work, providing free consultations to wounded soldiers. Traditionally, 85% of the wounded return to service after their injuries. We rehabilitate them well and to a high standard. In other words, by keeping personnel combat-ready, we are strengthening our country. And this actually takes up the vast majority of our time. And the rest of the time, we work as civilian doctors to earn money. When Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, the couple managed to leave Bucha for Kiev with their children. The following month, Oksana's parents tried to leave occupied Bucha. However, their car was shot at by Russian soldiers. Oksana's mother died on the spot, and her father was wounded. Volunteers helped him out from a shed where he was hiding. They told him where to go. And he went through the gardens, because there were cars driving and shooting on the roads. He climbed, then fell, and after two or three houses, there was a paramedic and an ambulance driver there. And when he left, we just froze. I sat there, just staring at the phone, and 40 minutes later, he called, I'm out. He walked through the checkpoints, and there were situations where he could have died, but luckily, he made it. In Kiev, Oksana operated on her father, herself. His right arm was shot through, and his head was injured. And then his life depended on me, on you, for a very long time. In honor of her mother, Oksana founded a charitable initiative, and later a foundation that helps displaced persons and military personnel. The couple says they don't plan to stop, as long as there's a need for their help.

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Breakdown