Just before Alexandra Rudkovskaya’s shift started, her mother gave her a big, long hug. The kind mothers give their children when they don’t know when – or even if – they’ll see them again.
Rudkovskaya, 24, works as a paramedic in Kharkiv – a choice she says leaves her mother “worried to the point of hysteria”.
“She says I need to get out of this town and go somewhere safe. ‘Why do you need to do this? I only have one daughter, stop doing that,’ she says,” Rudkovskaya tells CNN.
Just hours after the goodbye hug, her mother’s nightmares came true when Rudkovskaya and her partner Vladimir Ventsel put their lives on the line to reach an injured patient. THE CNN was there to witness his bravery.
Kharkiv, which is close to the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine, was one of the first cities to be attacked when Russia invaded two months ago. The city has been subjected to almost constant bombing since then.
As first responders in the city, Rudkovskaya and Ventsel find themselves running towards danger – even when everyone else is fleeing – daily.
They know they need to work fast. Russian forces are increasingly terrorizing the city with so-called “double strikes”: hitting a target, waiting a few minutes for rescuers to arrive, and then hitting the same spot again.
When they hear the loud noises of a bombing raid at the start of their shift, Rudkovskaya and Ventsel are on standby for an emergency call. Moments later, they receive one. At least one person was injured in the bombing.
Rudkovskaya, Ventsel and their driver get into the ambulance and leave. They each have a bulletproof vest, but they only have one helmet for the three of them.
A few moments after arriving at the site of the first attack, the whole place starts to shake again. The building next door was hit. The loud bangs of several explosions are followed by the sound of broken glass.
Rudkovskaya and Ventsel know what to do. They run down the darkened entryway and hide at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for the worst to pass. Ventsel tells the team at CNN to cover your ears and open your mouth to prevent hearing damage.
As this happens, the team struggles to locate the injured person they’ve been called upon to help. Ambulance teams in Kharkiv rely on cell phones for communication, but signals are disrupted whenever there is an accident – which is often.
“We are disconnected and they are bombing us,” says Rudkovskaya. As soon as she can speak, she yells into the phone, “Tell me your home number.”
“12G,” says the desperate voice on the other end of the line. “I repeat: 12. Gregory. I’ve told you a thousand times,” says the caller in despair. “The man is dying.”
As a barrage of rockets descends on the area, the CNN has no choice but to run for safety. Rudkovskaya and Ventsel run inside.
Moments later, they manage to find the victim, a 73-year-old man who suffered shrapnel injuries and head trauma. The bandages around his head are covered in blood and he gasps when doctors move his arm, but rescuers say he will survive.
Ventsel asks about the pain, but the man just points to his ears. He is deafened by the explosion and cannot hear. The duo stabilizes him and takes him to the hospital.
Rudkovskaya and Ventsel work for the Emergency and Disaster Medical Care Center in the Kharkiv region.
They say the organization has suffered a lot since the beginning of the war. Some of its staff chose to leave Kharkiv when the invasion began, and the service has suffered significant material losses in Russian attacks over the past two months.
The center’s director, Victor Zabashta, says 50 of its 250 ambulances are out of order after being hit by shrapnel.
Rudkovskaya and Ventsel are located in Saltivka, a district on the northeast outskirts of Kharkiv. The neighborhood is among the hardest hit in the region and many of its apartment buildings, shops and even the local school were destroyed. Basic services like water and electricity were also affected.
But despite intense fighting, many residents of Saltivka are determined to remain there. When their neighborhood is bombed, they sweep up the broken glass, fix it and move on with their lives. Most are elderly and have nowhere to go, according to paramedics.
“When we offer to take them to the hospital or somewhere safe, they say, ‘We don’t want to go, let’s stay here, this is our home.’ And stay there. We still have people living in Saltivka, we don’t know how,” says Rudkovskaya.
Like many of those they help, the duo is also adamant: they’re not going anywhere.
“What else did we spend six years studying for?” says Ventsel, who has a two-year-old son. “You feel an obligation to help the people who are left here.”
Back at base later, Rudkovskaya and Ventsel continue with their work. They’re only halfway through a 24-hour shift. The rear window of his ambulance was blown out by the explosions. They need to clean the broken glass and prepare the vehicle for the next patient.
“This is normal. It’s our job… It’s scary, but we’re still alive, thank God,” says Rudkovskaya.
She’s been in the ambulance service for five years, and Ventsel has worked here for seven, but nothing has prepared them for the horrors of working in a war zone.
“At the beginning of the war, we didn’t know how to do this work, because they were bombing non-stop and there were so many wounded,” says Rudkovskaya.
There’s no room for feelings, says Ventsel, you just have to move on. “When you are there, at that moment, you must do what you can. No emotions. You do your job and that’s it,” he says.
And he says he’s determined to keep going. “We’re going to keep doing our work until the end,” he says. “And after the war too”;
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
