An abandoned building about 20 minutes outside the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut has been turned into a frontline hospital to treat soldiers wounded in the months-long battle.
Nearly all the casualties among Ukrainian soldiers, about 90 percent, have come from shrapnel injuries, a 42-year-old combat medic identified only as Dmytro told the Kyiv Independent.
Dmytro said that another four of five percent of casualties have resulted from bullet wounds and that “a lot” of concussions have been treated.
The combat medic said that each day in the eight-month battle for the key city of Bakhmut has been “unpredictable,” but there are usually about 30 to 45 wounded soldiers that arrive each day.
The makeshift hospital is being staffed by a group of 20 medics, many of whom have not left the basement of the abandoned building where they are treating injured soldiers for more than a month.
“We keep working, and then, well, then I cry,” another medic, identified as Serhiy, said.
Serhiy added that he tries his best to be honest with incoming soldiers no matter how serious their injuries are.
“I’m not used to deceiving people, and I tell the truth,” he said. “Maybe I don’t say everything, but I try to be real, and if a person needs surgery, I say, ‘you need surgery.’ If the (patient’s) condition is difficult, I tell them that.”
The battle for Bakhmut is currently at a standstill after the Russian Wagner mercenary force claimed earlier this month that they have the city surrounded.
However, Ukraine has continued to hold the city despite suffering between 100-200 casualties per day, The Guardian reported.
