At Dnipro’s hospital, just 100 kilometers from Ukraine’s front lines, trauma surgeons confront the brutal human cost of war daily. Since 2014, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians with mine, gunshot, and shelling injuries have passed through its wards, many arriving with life-threatening or limb-shattering wounds. Deputy Chief Physician Yuriy Skrebets and his team perform complex neurosurgeries, orthopedic trauma care, and “complication surgeries” on patients who often arrive days after injury.
The hospital treats the most severe cases, including polytrauma and multiple amputations, providing intensive care and painstaking follow-up. Even Russian prisoners requiring neurosurgical care are treated. Surgeons like Yaroslav Hetman see dozens of patients daily, from civilians to National Guard soldiers like 23-year-old Artem, recovering from mine-explosive injuries to his arm, leg, and buttock.
Despite exhaustion and the emotional toll of constant trauma, hospital staff continue their life-saving work, witnessing “miracles” as patients survive injuries once thought unsurvivable. For doctors and patients alike, small recoveries, smiles, and gratitude become sources of hope amid the relentless horrors of war.