93rd Brigade Medic Maryna Vedkal: "Every day I realize that this may be my last visit"
In 2014, an intensive care unit nurse from Myrnohrad forced the military enlistment office to remove her reservation in order to go to war and help the wounded. For two and a half years of the full-scale invasion, the woman has literally been living in an armored car to stay as close to the positions as possible.
Once, while talking about the work of medics in the war, I heard from the brigade command: "We have a unique woman. She lives in armor at the positions, providing assistance on the spot. Very few people are capable of this. For the most part, how is everything going? Those who are wounded wait until a medical evacuation can get to them. This wait sometimes lasts for hours. And here, in the planting, a medic is always nearby. Moreover, a professional one. Even if a medic can't transport them immediately, aid will be provided for sure. And then it is easier for the soldier to wait for the right moment to leave the front line." Of course, I wanted to meet this woman. Because most of the medics are really at the evacuation point. They are called when it is necessary. And to live in the trenches, dugouts, near the medical MTLB (armoured tracked vehicle), you have to be desperate. Maryna is exactly such a person. She is also a real woman, because before we talked, she asked me to wait until she dolled herself up, as she had come to Kostiantynivka to talk to me from the same planting, so she wanted to wash, change into clean clothes, and put on makeup. And then hair!
"I AM RUSSIAN-SPEAKING, FROM DONBAS. BUT I WANT TO LIVE IN UKRAINE. WHY DID THESE MUSCOVITES COME TO US?"
Maryna was not outraged when I started our conversation by asking her how old she was. As a rule, a woman at war does not flirt and does not hide her age. "45," she says, "because she has experience and understanding of why things are done. Moreover, Maryna is also a local - from Donbas. This once again confirms that there are many true patriots of Ukraine in this region who are desperately fighting for it.
- When did you join the army? " I ask Maryna.
- I served before the full-scale offensive. On February 23, 2022, I received a call from the military registration and enlistment office, and on the 24th I went there. On the 25th, at five in the morning, I was already in the brigade.
- Did you serve in the 93rd before that?
- No, before the full-scale one, I was in the 61st Odesa Military Hospital. At first, I stayed put and worked as an intensive care unit nurse. Then two of us girls from the hospital went to the front line. I went to different brigades - the 28th, the 70th... I worked in many units. At some point, I thought: I'm old, it's time to go home. You know very well that it was not the same war that we see now. There were much fewer wounded. I had almost no work, so in 2017 I returned to my native Myrnohrad. There, as before, I worked at the local hospital.
- Did you have a feeling that the war would become so big?
- It was, but you always hope for something better...
- And when the military commissariat called...
- Of course, I immediately guessed what the conversation would be about. Before that, it was clear that something was going to happen because a lot of people were already leaving Sloviansk through Myrnohrad. There were a lot of cars driving by. At first, it was unclear: what kind of cars were rushing along the highway to Pokrovsk? And on the 23rd, at nine in the morning, I received a call and was asked to come. I said: "Okay." - "Should I bring you a draft notice?" - "No need. I'll finish my work tomorrow and come."
- Why did you not want to leave? Why did you not succumb to the general mood?
- Well, then who will work and help? How can I tell you... This is my homeland, I don't want the enemy to come to me. I am Russian-speaking, I am from Donbas. But I live in Ukraine and this is my country. Why did the Russians come here and claim our land? I understood perfectly well that no one would protect me and my son. What could I do? Let them come to my town? I don't want that. A lot of people left Myrnohrad, but eventually, everyone came back. As they say: be of use and carry your business on in the country where you were born. I never wanted to live in a big city. I'm happy with my small town.
In 2014, why didn't I join the army immediately? Because I had a reservation. I went to the military registration and enlistment office to remove it myself. I worked in neurology. The hospital " reserved" me, and I decided that I had to go to the army. I came and went by myself (laughs). And this time I also consciously joined the Armed Forces... Although I am well aware that I am already old, and more than a year in armoured vehicle does not add to my health... I am not fast-moving! All the time at the positions. That's why I was asked to come here to talk to you.
- Have you heard anything about the 93rd Brigade before?
- Yes. I met the 93rd in 2014, they were stationed behind our village. There were no hospitals then, and they were treated in our hospital. So I had known about the 93rd for a long time.
On February 27 or 28, I was in Okhtyrka. Okhtyrka, Pysarivka, Trostianets... In Trostianets - it was probably the fifth of March - we were driving a medical "Bohdan" and got stuck. We were transporting civilians from Trostianets. It was morning, and we managed to leave there with the people, but on the way back we got stuck because of the sand. We got stuck, no one could get us out. And then our commander was driving towards us: "What's the matter?" That's when he decided to give us a MT-LB. I got on it in March and got off it in December (laughs).
- Was it medical, equipped?
- Here she stands. Here, with us. I've already destroyed two of them.
- Well, not you, but the Muscovites...
- In the second one, I have a mechanic-driver who is a "300th", he was wounded.
"MY FIRST APC WAS SHOT DOWN WHEN WE CAME TO PICK UP THE WOUNDED"
Maryna shows me the armor and explains how everything is arranged inside. The tracked vehicle does not look like a medical vehicle at all; it is quite cramped and dark inside. But this is the kind of vehicle that can evacuate the wounded to a safe place.
- People often ask me if I'm not scared. How can I not be scared? I am a human being.
We load the wounded inside. In principle, we can also take them out on armor, but we are constantly under fire, so we don't do that. The enemy sees that large vehicles are coming. He does not realize that it will not fire a gun because there is not even one on our MT-LB. But the armor is revving, it is a huge one. So it can become a target in itself. That is why we do everything quickly. We carry the seriously injured on stretchers and the rest of them we set down. We don't have time to analyze everything. Often the situation is like this: if we don't go now, we will all be "two hundredths".
- What happened to your first APC?
- We came to get the wounded, and the Russians hit it. We were just starting to get out of the armor. The guys dug trenches there, and we jumped into them. Then we kept our heads down for two days, that's how they fired that position. The enemy had to completely destroy the place where we were. It was near Izium, in a planting located in the middle of the fields - there was nowhere to run. There was also mud, and you couldn't run very far... It was probably April 2022.
- How were you taken out of there?
- We went out on foot when things calmed down a bit. Then, until we had armor, we walked with stretchers across the fields. The second time we were caught by a tank... Every day we went to the command post because we had to recharge the walkie-talkie. And this was a bare field before the planting, where we could hide. Once we came to charge the radio station with a mechanic-driver, came out and saw a tank... Well, there was no walkie-talkie. And there was no planting. You stand in it - not only are the leaves fallen, but there are no trees.
And now I am standing in the plantation. The Muscovites are lying around dead, still in their winter clothes. It is clear that they have been here since last year. And this is happening wherever you go... We have recently recaptured these positions, and they have long been mummified, no one has even tried to pull them out.
- Did you get your second APC near Izium?
- Yes. We used it to withdraw from Izium. Some of the infantry had withdrawn before that. The company commander left us, the medics, with an MTLB and an APC that was supposed to cover the retreat. We were the last to withdraw. Most likely, the Russians heard our negotiations. I was told to move out... And that armor was higher than this one, you could put a turret on it (it was MTLB-C, and the first one was just MTLB). It did not fire, but it had a turret. It was a kind of machine, 12 tons. I was told: "Take the rest of them, go pick up the guys". There was a moment of silence. "Pick up the guys and go". There were maybe three soldiers left at the positions. We were ready to withdraw in the morning. Instead of us, I think, there was a 30th unit, and we were redeployed to Bakhmut.
- What did they hit you with?
- With artillery. They fired our planting - it was terrible... And my motor driver mechanic died there. I tried to pull him out, called the guys... Our MTLB was on fire, the guys extinguished it. The second one, which was supposed to cover a retreat, took us all out. They loaded the motor driver mechanic on top, and I sat next to it
- Did you ride being on top?
- Yes, on the armor. And we had to leave the ravine for a mountain, a big mountain. When it started to rain, cars didn't even go there. I thought we would never get out of there.
- You said you lived in the fields...
- Both in the car and in the dugouts. We dug our own dugouts...
This video was shot this February near Lyman
- So did you transport the wounded to the medical stabilization point and return to the position?
- Yes, we are going back.
- What is the need for you to be there? I think if you said: "I'll be at the evacuation point to pick them up," I don't think they would have refused you.
- Somehow it became the custom... I stand mostly somewhere in the middle, between the plantings, between the positions of the guys. I figured out that it would be about the same distance to run to everyone. I go and take the wounded. If there is no shelling, if there is a lull, it is possible to provide assistance, to do something quickly. At least to treat the wounds. Because there are places where it is impossible to do anything at all. While I am jumping out of the armor to get the wounded, the driver of the car quickly turns around.
Once the guy was taken to a safer place on an ATV. And we took him there. His injuries are medium, closer to severe. He is all cut to pieces... We manage to drive away. But at that time another man was wounded. He was brought to the evacuation point by an ATV... It takes a long time to get there. Good thing, nothing happened while he was being transported there... Then we heard the walkie-talkie shouting that we should come to the point where we were standing because there was a strike – "two hundredths" and three "three hundredths": "Take them away!" We took them away too.
We were stationed between Bakhmut and Soledar in the plantings. I was with the first company, their commander was killed in Bakhmut - a five-story building collapsed. The Kingdom of Heaven... We were withdrawn from Bakhmut in December 2022, and on January 18, we came back again. We didn't have a swing for long... (laughs).
Going back - the third company has no medics. There's a legendary arch in Tiktok, where a tank was hit - everyone probably saw it. And we were placed there to be closer to the front line. We stood there around the clock. And there was no connection there. There were three of us: I was a medic, a driver and a medic. We had to go through the same arch. And you stand there with a walkie-talkie to catch at least some connection. Everything is flying around, making noise - but what can you do... It's cold, it's disgusting.
- Does the cold grate on your nerves the most?
- Not at all. You get used to everything. But what to do? Those refused, these refused - who will go? I don't want to go, you don't want to go, he doesn't want to go...
We have points where guys bring the wounded in their arms (if they can pull them out). The guys slowly pull them out, and then the truck arrives, and everything is done instantly, in a matter of seconds we overload them. The driver cannot always turn around properly because of the minefields. Everything is mined, there are many broken vehicles. The guys are shouting: "Don't stop!" No one stands, we quickly load up and drive off. Sometimes I take a man with post-concussion syndrome. He walks around, collects his clothes, and everyone sympathizes with him: "Oh, bro, come on, treat yourself!" Then I can't stand it anymore. Even the Muscovites can hear my "your mother twice over". I shouted: "We have to run, why are you standing there?" Guys also had this thing: when he got into the car or was put there, everything was like a dome over him, he was already saved. Not at all. Just try to leave there. The problem here is not what we took away. We took him, that's good. But try to transport him.
A wounded man whom Maryna helped near Lyman
- Did your intensive care unit nurse skills come in handy?
- Of course. Thank God, we transported everyone, it was not yet, God forbid that they die in the car... Sometimes I performed closed-chest cardiac massage for 40 minutes to transport them further. Sometimes we even connected oxygen cylinders to MT-LB. I have experience, so I know I can transport it, I can see it. Yes, I was performing closed-chest cardiac massage for him, not letting him die, but I realized that he had half a head missing... Wounds can be very terrible, armor is torn, what can you say about a person.... Once we evacuated a young guy. I asked him where his bulletproof vest was. And he came out without it, because the vest had been torn. What can I say? Every day you realize that your visit may be the last one.
- You're always racing against death...
- Well, yes. We try to do our best. Everyone in my crew understands that anything can happen. We were driving through Ivanivske when the road was still passable. We were leaving with the 300ths, and a car was being shot at by an ATGM. We got through, but the others did not.
- Doctors also die, you hear it all the time.
- Yes, Yana Rychlytska died in our brigade... A very young girl...
"AFTER THE VICTORY, WE WILL GO TO ALL OUR PEOPLE. TO THE CEMETERIES"
- Over these two years, were there days when there were no wounded? Or are there wounded every day?
- It has happened. Russians are on the dot - you can see how they rotate, how they organize, when they bring in equipment when they run out of ammunition load, and then they shoot less. This lasts for a couple of days. The logistics are completed, and then they start shelling again so that you can't raise your head. These are the days of calm when I have no work.
- And what about now?
- We are stationed in places where you can't even get there with an ATV. Once we went to evacuate the guys. The "three hundredth" was evacuated, but the "two hundredth" stayed behind... In the evening we went to pick them up, but the shelling did not stop. I said: "Guys, I'm sorry. The crew could be killed". I could not help them, no matter how much I wanted to. In the evening, we did not manage to take our dead. The guys were trying all night, and around four in the morning they managed to pull everyone out...
While we were talking near the MT-LB, two fighter jets flew almost over our heads - they were on their way to work. The unexpected sound and their minimum altitude made me, as someone who was not used to this, almost scrouch down. Maryna laughed. And added:
- "There are two plantings where we are on duty now, and there is a highway between them. Sometimes you're driving along and a chopper flies so low above us that you have to give way! (laughs.) It comes out of the bushes and goes "wham! The driver is slamming on the brakes... You never know what you're going to see.
- "Where's your son, how old is he? " we continue the conversation.
- In Myrnohrad. He is 19 years old. He went to the Dnipropetrovsk region for a while and came back. He said: "Mom, no, I'm going home". He has been disabled since childhood. He was going to join the army one day without telling me anything. I found out from my ex-husband: "Do you know that your son went to the military enlistment office?" It was in the spring of 2022. I was just in Okhtyrka. It turns out that everyone with whom my son studied went to the military commissariat. They told him: "You don't have a military service registration certificate. And no one is going to issue one now." Then he and his friend ran to the TDF, and they were told where to go. So he is at home. And what am I, just serving here for nothing? I'm also here for him!
- Can you tell us what you, as a medic, really need at war? What is always at your fingertips?
- First of all, hemostatic drugs. Also, bandages, antiemetics - it is necessary in case of post-concussion syndrome, and painkillers. Working on the front line, you can't let yourself go. Israeli bandages are a great help - I can't say enough, they are very comfortable. Because you can't do much with 7-by-14 bandages if a fighter has a hole... Firstly, I can't get much, and secondly, I don't have time. I just don't have time. I want to transport the 300th guy, not the 200th.
- Sometimes the wounded ask: "Hold my hand..."
- They love that: "Don't go away, stroke my hand"... This is true. Sometimes situations arise that seem ridiculous to talk about. A guy with a torn-off arm is sitting there, not complaining, patiently waiting for help. And another guy has a scratch, and he is screaming as if he is being maimed... Someone talks a lot during the evacuation: about his wife, they say, he should wait for her
- When you live in the dugouts for a long time, how do you organize your life? What do you miss there as a woman?
- Yes, I have everything... Last year my godson got married and invited me to the wedding. I was allowed to go, but I left the position day after day. Dress, shoes - I was getting dressed in the car on the way to the wedding to be in time for the civil ceremony. And I was so looking forward to that vacation. It seemed like I would do so much after the wedding, stay at home... And after the wedding, I changed clothes, looked around the house and felt that I wanted to return, saying: " I'm done having fun, take me back to the unit!"
Maryna took this photo recently at a position near Klishchiivka, where she is now stationed with her comrades
- Do you have any plans for the victory? When you win, will you return to work at your hospital or what will you do?
- How old am I now? Do you think they will keep me in the army until my retirement? I will return home. There is also medicine there. There are always stroke patients. I'm used to working at night. I don't like it when there are a lot of people, to be honest (laughs).
-Don't want to go somewhere? A little further away from here?
- I have comrades with whom we started in this brigade. We have buried many friends. There are guys who have already been discharged. We have our own circle, we communicate. We have a desire - after the victory, we will all go together to visit all our people. To the cemeteries...
Violetta Kirtoka, Censor.NET
