Newcomers to Azov Regiment training base in Kyiv listen attentively when 25-year-old Olena Mosiychuk talks and, for good reason – she is teaching them how to stay alive in war.
Mosiychuk is a military doctor with a civilian
practice who for more than a year has volunteered on the war front with Azov
Regiment.
Throughout last year, she traveled to the most
of the hot spots, including the battles in Shyrokyne and Illovaisk, the Azov
Sea port city of Mariupol and the village of Hranitne in war-torn Donetsk Oblast.
Mosiychuk, a native of Dnipropetrovsk city in
eastern Ukraine, never thought she’d end up being a medical volunteer, but says
she has been interested in military since her childhood. She learned the first
aid basics herself. Her education also came of a great help, as she has a
chemistry major.
Mosiychuk joined Azov lighthearted as many of
her friends and EuroMaidan activists were already there. Later she became the
first women in the regiment – constantly helping her fellow soldiers under the
shelling. She confessed it was “really scary” to experience the mortar shelling
for the first time.
“That’s why they (soldiers) didn’t like to see
women there at first,” Mosiychuk says in the interview with the Kyiv Post. “But
I quickly showed them that I’m a soldier and I can help.”
Azov Regiment fighters work out at the training base in Kyiv. (Anastasia Vlasova)
In the beginning of the winter, Mosiychuk was
wounded in Hranitne when the village was shelled by Russian-separatists troops.
She admits it was one of the most tragic days
in her life. The shrapnel hit her legs and face, but two of Azov fighters were
killed then.
“I lost two of my friends there (in Hranitne),” Mosiychuk recalls.
“They were wounded so badly. My friend’s head was smashed.”
She continued rescuing soldiers, adding that
she has probably saved about 100 lives. Mosiychuk never gave first aid to
Russian-backed separatist, but said she wouldn’t hesitate to do so, because he
might be a useful source for Ukrainian military.
However, her blast injuries kept progressing,
so Mosiychuk had to leave the war zone for a treatment.
That’s how she ended up in Kyiv’s Azov base
this May.
Her everyday routine changed drastically. In
Kyiv, Mosiychuk teaches fighters how to treat burns, wounds, use tourniquets,
analgesics and hemostatic devices until professional help is available. They
also learn how to make use of everyday materials for their battlefield medical
kits.
Mosiychuk herself underwent a number of
military and medical trainings, including 2-week summer camp in Estonian army
organized according to NATO standards.
“When I was in Estonia we even taught our
trainers how we treat wounded soldiers on the frontlines,” Mosiychuk recalled.
“They were surprised that we can use women hygiene products to plug wounds
caused by bullets or shrapnel.”
According to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, nine
of ten casualties die are due to catastrophic blood loss.
That’s why dealing with catastrophic bleeding
and to experience combat situations in practice are the most important things
for the newcomers – even when the war is far away.
“We have fake blood, other materials to make
the wounds look realistic,” Mosiychuk explains, adding that the situation is
adapted to hostile and war zone environments. “They may see very nasty things
(on the war front) and should be ready for it – physically and mentally,”
Mosiychuk says.
She admits she missed being apart from her
fellow soldiers and wants to go back to the front line at all cost.
Even a military uniform does not hide her
slender frame. Attractive and physically fit, Mosiychuk, however, has no time
for herself as she spends “almost 24 hours” helping and training on the base.
“That’s my work which I love,” Mosiychuk says.
Her rolled up sleeves expose her arms covered with colorful tattoos. Those are
the symbols that “protect” her, Mosiychuk says, adding that it’s not easy to
find a spot of her body free of inking.
But her biggest talisman is her 4-year-old son
who’s living in Dnipropetrovsk together with Mosiychuk’s mother. She missed him
the most, but tries to stay connected as much as possible. “He even boasts
about me in the kindergarten,” Mosiychuk says with a smile adding that she’d
encourage her son to join the army in the future.
When asked about her dreams, she says she
wants peace for her country and a car to visit her son more often – because the
one she owned was broken after the year in Donbas.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be reached at [email protected].
