Dmytro Androschuk

with the call sign "Dante" is a military vascular surgeon who not only saves others, but also teaches others about it.

He was the head of Ukraine's largest structural group "44th Training Center" for tactical medicine and pre-medical training.

After the full-scale invasion, he became the chief medic of the "Hospitaliers" volunteer battalion, at the same time works as a senior officer of the group at the field stabilization point, and from September - mobilized to the Armed Forces as a vascular surgeon.

His struggle, like millions of Ukrainians, began 9 years ago.

In 2014, Dmytro took part in the Revolution of Dignity, where he received a shrapnel wound, and later traveled to the East as a volunteer medic.

Nowadays, Dmytro is convinced that "this is not the kind of

war

that our country should hide from, it is not clear where". 

In an interview with TSN.ua

, military surgeon Dmytro Androschuk told about Bakhmut, the loss of the occupiers, the chips in the work and the rescue of a little girl.

Where and how he saves the soldiers

Dmytro saves dozens of lives every day.

He admits that

his motivation is our victory as soon as possible

, so he does everything possible to bring it closer.

"I understand that I have no other option. If Russia wins, there will be no special options for me to survive in all this, as well as for my family and friends," says the doctor.

Dmytro provides assistance at the stabilization point, where the wounded are brought, if it takes several hours from "zero" to the hospital.

He explains that serious patients may not be able to withstand a long distance, so he and his team do everything possible to ensure that the injured can reach a hospital or hospital alive.

"Minimal surgical and anesthesiological things that can save life. It's still an hour's drive from us to the hospital. And in that hour, all these unstable wounded could die," the military medic notes.

Previously, "Dante" evacuated the wounded from under fire, but he explains that it is at the stage of the checkpoint that he feels most useful and effective.

"I understand that this is not the kind of war that our country should sit out, it is not clear where to hide," he adds.

Life stories of patients pass through doctors, says "Dante"

Over the past year, the surgeon has worked at various checkpoints and the conditions were radically different.

He recalls that he

had to save soldiers even in a room where there was nothing but three metal tables.

It happened that they

provided help with flashlights

, because there was neither light nor generators.

But he admits that he worked in good conditions with everything necessary, and even with Starlink.

Now, he says, compared to other directions, he has quite satisfactory conditions.

To confirm this, in a conversation with us, he demonstrates his operating room, where doctors stabilize the seriously wounded.

There are beds with thermal blankets, an ultrasound machine and other equipment, and the necessary medical preparations to save the soldiers.

"Here, I would call luxury conditions. We brought an electric boiler and there is even hot water. The light is here now. It often goes out, but we have a generator. At least our operating room is provided with light. Sometimes there were problems with the generator, with flashlights, of course worked, not without it," Dmytro shares.

One of the checkpoints where "Dante" provided aid to the wounded

Speaking about free time, he says, if it does appear, doctors try to rest.

At night, he says, sleep is very unstable -

during the night there can be an hour of sleep,

which is interrupted for 20 minutes between the wounded.

"Sometimes we can sleep for 3-4 hours. But usually we work more at night, and we sleep the most in the morning," Dmytro describes his everyday life.

Do you often tell fighters that they were "born in a shirt"

The medic says that there were many cases when the fighters received such injuries that it seemed that they had no chance of survival, but the boys managed with minimal injuries.

According to "Dante", sometimes he even thinks that

"guardian angels are hovering over our military".

"It happened that two wounded people were brought to me, very similar to each other. The first one was hit by a bullet and stuck in the cheekbone, and the other - a fragment flew and stuck in the same area. It very often happens that the fragment pierces an arm or a leg and does not touch any blood vessels or bones. And I really think that I was born in a shirt, because the injury is such, in such a location, that even a tourniquet would not help. There are so many," says the doctor.

The conditions in which soldiers are rescued are radically different at each checkpoint, says Dmytro / Photo: Dmytro Androschuk

At the same time, he emphasizes that not everyone is so lucky.

For example, on the day of the conversation with us, three soldiers with the same type of wound - in the chest - were evacuated from "zero" to Dmytro's headquarters, but while two survived, one could not be transported due to significant blood loss.

"How many of those who received the same injury, but 2 mm left and right and with a broken vessel, which they encountered in the field of pain?..." - he notes.

The truth about Bakhmut

For the last 5 months, the doctor has been near Bakhmut and says that

this is a really difficult direction

.

But he emphasizes that this has always been the case, and not in recent weeks or months.

The reason, according to him, is that the Russians are throwing there not some unprepared mobilized people who run away throwing down their weapons, but professional contractors, "Wagnerians", who specifically knew that they were going to kill.

"Personally, I find it a bit strange and sarcastically funny how the Internet has recently started to spread the word, "Oh my God, on Bakhmut, such a horror is happening.

How terrible everything is here!". It was constant. Why did they start wailing only now? It was always a difficult direction here," the combat medic notes.

Earlier, "Dante" evacuated the wounded from shelling on the front line / Photo: Dmytro Androschuk

However, he still agrees that on the Russian side there are also so-called "salaried workers" who went to war only for money.

"There were contract workers who went to this war because, as they said, there was half a year left before retirement. And he decided to spend those six months in the army, and then leave. And he was affected. He got a pension, it's called," he says, jokingly, Dmytro.

At the same time, despite everything, the occupiers suffer colossal losses on Bakhmut and do not even try to save their own wounded soldiers.

"Dante" says that it is easier for the occupiers to lie about why they actually had to retreat.

"Each unsuccessful assault of theirs means that in them most of those who stormed fell from the bullets of our defenders. And, as practice shows, they do not particularly try to save their soldiers. In most cases, they simply throw them on the battlefield and retreat to positions. It's easier for them to abandon these wounded, to tell different myths, and not that 100 people were walking, but, conventionally, 10 people in the trench crushed half of this hundred," explains the military medic.

About Russian attacks on medics

The occupiers mercilessly attack medics, who are the enemy's number one priority.

So, for example, during one of the evacuations of the wounded, the

Russians fired at two medics with a mortar

.

The soldier managed to survive, the medics, unfortunately, died.

The military surgeon also told another story that once again proves the cynicism of the Russian troops.

After shelling Ukrainian positions, the occupiers

specially waited for a group of "Hospitaliers" and sneakily attacked them with attack drones.

Dmytro says that the medics almost died then, he got a concussion.

"They waited for the medics to arrive, and 7 more attack drones rained down on us. It was at the moment when the medics were loading these wounded people that they were helping them. I was concussed," Dante notes.

In general, due to Russian attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Dmytro has already received two concussions, the last one - with a splinter wound.

Recently, the occupiers fired artillery and "hail" at the stabilization point where a combat medic worked.

He recalls that due to heavy shelling, they decided to go to the shelter.

It was at this moment that there was an "arrival" on the building, the windows and glass from the doors were blown out, debris was flying all around.

Fortunately, "Dante" managed to cover his face, but his hand was injured - two pieces of glass flew.

The headquarters after another shelling of the Russians.

Dmytro was wounded here

The chips are in the works

The military surgeon says that he manages to effectively save the lives of others thanks to his cold mind and detachment from the situations and stories that pass through him every day.

He explains that if you don't learn how to do this and give free rein to your emotions, you can lose control over your actions.

"

It's not people who pass through us, it's not patients who pass through us, life stories, broken destinies, pain, despair, losses, fire and flames in their heads pass through us.

They pass it all on to us. And we hear all these stories and we live them. If we don't distance ourselves from it, it can have a very strong effect on the psyche of military doctors," the doctor stated.

Military medics experience human grief every day / Photo: Dmytro Androschuk

Also, among the chips that significantly help him in working with the wounded:

special magnets

, which can be used to remove fragments from wounds,

an ultrasound machine,

Leatherman scissors

, with which the doctor constantly cuts clothes to determine the place of injury,

thermal blankets

, which allow you to warm patients, because just a person cools down, the body temperature drops and the bleeding stops altogether.

"I was given such heaters for infusions from Denmark, so that the drugs that we inject into the body pass through such a block that heats them. And in this way, the body receives a warm solution and it does not get hypothermic. Warm solutions decide a lot in terms of the survival of these wounded", - military surgeon "Dante" shares his experience.

Thermal blankets are an important element for saving fighters

Rescue of an 8-year-old girl

In addition to the military, Dmytro had experience working with the civilian population and even once

saved an 8-year-old girl in Donetsk region.

The child was helping her parents in the household when a Russian mine landed and a shard of glass injured her hand.

Her father, who begged to save his daughter, brought her to the doctors.

Dmytro notes that dad did the right thing even before providing professional help: he competently applied a bandage that stopped the bleeding.

"I will never forget that little girl, the princess. I was given this child and I decided to save her vessel. At the field station, I performed this vascular operation. The most difficult thing was that at the end they let go of the fingers. The whole team froze, whether there would be pulsation, whether there would be blood, but the vascular pulsation went away. They exhaled," Dmytro shares his memories.

WARNING!

Photo can have a negative effect on the psyche!

18+

Dmytro saved an 8-year-old girl whose arm was injured by a fragment / Photo: Dmytro Androschuk

The girl was helped just at the field headquarters / Photo: Dmytro Androschuk

The doctor says that the girl came to them for a week for dressings, and already on the last day she made a rather sensitive gift to her savior as a sign of gratitude:

"The baby gave me an icon of St. Nicholas. On the last day, when I was supposed to let her go, we had already said goodbye, and my grandmother said to her: "Haven't you forgotten anything?" And she ran and brought the icon: "This is for you."

Dmytro admits that for him it is a very close gift.

And this icon now stands in a prominent place at his home.

"In general, I remembered this child very much, because I was very worried about her, terribly. These are very small vessels, and the area is like that. It was very important to restore this blood flow so that her hand could function," the doctor says with trepidation.

About the influence of Russian propaganda on the population

However, telling about his experience, Dmytro notes that not all patients are grateful to him.

The surgeon drew attention to the fact that due to Russian propaganda and lies, which the Kremlin has been spreading to people for years, part of the population of the East has a negative attitude towards doctors, and in some places - aggressively.

He says that since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, when he was in the frontline cities, he had the feeling that someone was constantly looking at his back.

"Some kind of aggression. It happens that a lot of people, when you help them, they direct their negativity at you, and not at those who hurt them. Often, when we help civilians, even by the way they behave on the operating table, you can see , who among them is pro-Ukrainian and who is pro-Russian: how they express themselves, what they say under medical drugs, when they are given painkillers. One way or another, this is our population to whom we provide assistance," the doctor notes.

In his opinion, if it is possible to win back territories illegally seized by the Russians, "it is very difficult to win back people's brains."

"It's like trying to change the foundation of an already built house... Imagine how a person who believed in propaganda all his life would really understand the consequences, realize how many children and civilians were murdered because of pro-Russian policies in the regions. He would go crazy." , - the military surgeon expresses his opinion.

The duty of the military is to save the lives of others / Photo: Dmytro Androschuk

About the state of the military after the front

Regarding the military, "Dante" notes that they protect our Motherland in extremely difficult conditions and there is a certain part with psycho-emotional stress.

These are temporary disorders and should be treated with understanding, says the doctor.

"

The guys who come to us, they come from hell

. It is not clear what the conditions are there. It is not clear how many of them have not been at home even once during these 9 months. Therefore, they must all be understood and worked immediately as a psychologist. Temporary disorders are it's normal. The main thing is to treat these moments and turn to specialists, not to keep your injuries quiet. Then everything passes as the person is treated," the military surgeon explains.

Military evacuation / Photo: Dmytro Androschuk

Advice to civilians

Dmytro believes that now Ukraine is much better prepared for war and, according to him, "a head above what it was in 2014."

As citizens of a country that has been at war for the 9th year, the surgeon advises to

take first aid courses and learn how to use weapons.

"It can fly anywhere and this knowledge is not needed for general development, but these are vital things. As, I believe, it is vitally necessary for a country at war to be able to use weapons. At a minimum, understand what weapons are and understand how she shoots, how to take care of her - recommends a combat medic to Ukrainians and adds: I really like what many soldiers say: "Study". You have time to study in the rear."

It is especially important for citizens who plan to join medics at the front to learn medicine, because people's lives are in their hands. 

Dmytro once headed Ukraine's largest training center for tactical medicine and pre-medical training

We will remind you that paramedic Orysya talked about how "hospitalists" work and in what conditions they live, what is the most difficult thing in war and what motivates her.

Read the candid story

here.

Kateryna, a 25-year-old paramedic, who saves the lives of others under enemy bullets, at the cost of her own, also shared her story.

The sincere story of the "hospitalist" Kateryna Galushka about the pain of losses, fears and challenges and gender stereotypes in the war 

is available at this link. 

Read also:

  • Budanov's prediction about the war: what awaits us

  • Scenarios of the development of the war through the eyes of the West: the three main threats that Russia is preparing this winter

  • His leg was torn off, doctors save his arm, and he dreams of potatoes in lard: the story of the indomitable Ukrainian fighter