It looks like an ordinary train waiting to depart from an ordinary station, but through its foggy windows, a Ukrainian soldier with a facial injury is lying on a gurney.
All the other blue and yellow carriages of this army-run train are carrying wounded soldiers to hospitals away from the dangerous front lines.
Nearly three years after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, many medical facilities in war-torn eastern Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed, while those that remained untouched are overcrowded.
For Oleksandr, the army doctor overseeing the evacuation, rail has obvious advantages: many people can be transported at once and, given Russian superiority in Ukraine’s airspace, it is comparable to transporting wounded soldiers by helicopter. It is safer in.
But there are risks too.
“Our opponent in war does not differentiate between medical and military, so we take some security measures,” the 46-year-old said.
AFP was recently granted rare media access to the train, the points of departure and arrival of which are not being disclosed for security reasons.
‘Everything is in motion’
Ambulances arrived at the station carrying dozens of wounded soldiers, who were carried to the train on stretchers and placed on beds with flower-patterned sheets.
The walls inside the train were covered with Ukrainian flags with patriotic messages and hand-drawn pictures by children.
The carriages look like a hospital, until the train moves away from the platform and slowly moves the patients and staff – and everything else inside – as it crawls past.
“We do everything on the fly, everything. Starting from simple intravenous injections to incubation,” said Victoria, a nurse wearing a khaki outfit and blue medical gloves.
“After this we feel dizzy,” the 25-year-old man said, standing in front of a window, overlooking the Ukrainian landscape.
A trip back and forth from the front, where Ukraine is coming under increasing pressure, has given Victoria a painful insight into the cost of the conflict now in its third year.
“I now understand the number of injured. It’s very difficult to see it every day,” she said.
Kiev – like Moscow – has remained tight-lipped about its military casualties.
In February President Volodymyr Zelensky said the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed was about 31,000 – observers say the figure was likely lower – but the number of missing and wounded has never been disclosed.
worried about others
Staff reported that most of the wounded were killed by artillery or drone strikes, and many had their arms or legs amputated or were unconscious.
One cart is designated for patients who are in intensive care, and doctors can also operate on patients in the event of “force majeure,” Dr. Oleksandr said.
Things can go wrong and massive bleeding – an unexpected and fast killer – is a major concern for staff.
“The staff are always close to the patients,” Oleksandr said, adding that they take turns using the toilet or eating.
Despite the logistical issues of care on moving trains, wounded soldiers’ concerns lie elsewhere.
“His psychological condition is not good,” medical staff worker Olena told AFP.
“They’re not worried about losing a limb or anything else. They’re worried about how their partners are and how their family is,” Olena said.
‘a sigh of relief’
A Ukrainian soldier on board the train was being treated for gunshot wounds after being caught in a Russian ambush that also killed a fellow soldier.
“Four of us left but not all of us returned,” said the 28-year-old man, who identified himself as Murchik.
But he was already anticipating when he might be able to return to the front, where Ukraine’s outnumbered forces were retreating in the face of a determined Russian advance.
Whether Murchik can return to combat will be decided by a medical commission, but he said he is clear about his desire.
“I would like to go back,” he told AFP.
Train evacuations in Ukraine began when the war began in February 2022.
This revives the process used in the Second World War, with many sophisticated trains now carrying wounded soldiers to the front.
When Oleksandr’s train reaches its destination, ambulances are already waiting to unload patients and take them to the hospital.
“It’s definitely very stressful and yes, when you arrive and unload the luggage you breathe a sigh of relief,” he said, “when you see all the ambulances have gone, when the platform is empty and the train Is empty.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
