The LCI teams went to Lyman (Ukraine), in the Donetsk oblast, where war wounded are receiving treatment.
Most were hit by drones.
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Ukraine: almost three years of war
More and more injuries. Nearly three years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is difficult to draw an exact assessment of the number of victims. At the end of 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that 43,000 soldiers had been killed since 2022, and 370,000 wounded. Some of them are receiving treatment in Lyman, in Donetsk oblast, behind the front.
In this center, doctors are working hard to restore men hit on the battlefield, most of them by drones. This is the case of Dima, injured by a grenade dropped from a drone. “As soon as I turn my back, a grenade falls in front of me”he tells LCI (see video at the top of this article). “It’s difficult. You can’t go out because they bombard with everything.”
“Everyone wants the war to stop, but we don’t want to lose our territories”
On site, the health professionals do not all come from the region. Olena, an anesthesiologist, is originally from Ukraine, but lives in the United States. She left her husband and child across the Atlantic for a few weeks to help her native country. Since then, she has been dressing soldiers’ wounds. “I had never worked on this type of injury before”she explains. “I worked in a very controlled environment at the hospital, I was never around fighters.”
Soldiers’ injuries have become his new daily life, and the 15 to 150 wounded who come every day almost all have one thing in common: they have been hit by drones. “Before, there were mainly shell-related injuries”says Oleksyi, a military doctor in the Ukrainian army. “Now it’s more about grenades being dropped from drones, and drones in general.”
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In addition to the physical aspect, the important thing for Ukrainians is also to maintain morale. The prospect of an end to the war, promised by Donald Trump who will return to the White House on January 20, leaves them doubtful. “Everyone wants the war to end, but obviously I don’t want to lose our territories either, the lands we’ve always had. It’s unfair”underlines Olena. Everyone in this care center knows it: only military successes would help them in their task.
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