Last days of Vuhledar’s defence: "Wounded were jumping in on move"
During her 28 years in law enforcement, she rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and, from the position of a SBI investigator, came to the military enlistment office, hid her rank and place of work and asked to join a combat brigade as a medic. As a member of the 72nd SMB named after Black Zaporozhians, Liubov Zalyvadna has been evacuating and rescuing the wounded in Vuhledar for more than two years.
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I am a lieutenant colonel of the State Bureau of Investigation. Here I am a senior soldier.
I am not a qualified doctor at all. I have a university degree, but it's in law. I am a paramedic, a combat medic, not qualified.
When the enemy took Vuhledar, we were at special points near Vuhledar. This is between Vuhledar and Bohoiavlenka. In Bohoiavlenka, we have a point where we were stationed at the time. When we heard that there were wounded, we went there and took the wounded. We worked there in crews in turns or together, whether we were driving wheeled vehicles or armoured vehicles. There was a lot of enemy, really, well, it was already 500 metres away, we had already seen them.
For the first time, perhaps, when my hair stood on end, like a dog or a cat, when I saw the enemy, I heard a voice, I heard this speech, this one, and I really felt like a dog, you know, scared or wild, my hair stood on end. It was September.
It was already very dangerous, but we were leaving. The enemy did not allow us to get to the wounded.
We went to evacuate our own people, as we were told that there would be two or five, it doesn't matter, but we brought 8 or 10 or 12.
The car would be destroyed, our drivers and medics would jump out, hide in dugouts or in a forest, and the second crew would come. The second crew had a successful evacuation, that is, they took them all away. The same way, and it was all the time. I don't remember how many days it was, but that's how we worked. Sometimes everuthing was covered with these petals. We all had contusions, shrapnel wounds, and we treated each other, of course, and connected infusions.
The enemy entered Vuhledar. Our crew left, and our vehicle was smashed. It was an M 113 armoured vehicle, the enemy hit it with mines and FPV drones. The enemy was constantly hovering with drones and saw everything. And that was the situation, as our crew, driver and our medic reported, they couldn't get there. Our M113 was just broken, it was on fire, they fled somewhere in the landing, and there was no one to drive it.
And since the enemy cut off your logistical routes, was your medical supply sufficient to provide assistance in such a situation?
We constantly had arrivals, I'll tell you, and everything was just destroyed.
In Bohoiavlenka, we had a point, yes, we had just come out, we had just arrived with the guys, yes, we went in, left the room, and a rocket hit the house. As it did not detonate inside, it somehow detonated upwards.
And all my medicine, just everything there was immediately destroyed. So, I immediately started saving everything that I could save. Well, while we were putting out the fire there, and everything else.
Are there any cases with the wounded that you remember?
When the guys, one of them is the most seriously wounded, and they manage to carry out their comrades. To go through these anti-personnel mines without getting blown up. These are the cases when we arrived, and they were passing through some territory, because our car, when we approached, had no wheels. Okay, a Hummer, what's it like? It has wheels, yes, and it has spare wheels. And if we have blown up all the wheels, we can still continue to move on these spare wheels. Because the armoured vehicles were all destroyed. And these are the cases when they just jump into this vehicle, well, they manage to jump in and not blow up right before our eyes.
If, say, he has to run 500 metres, and they can do it. And they carry each other there, three carry two more, you know. And I estimate, you say, how do you estimate, I estimate that if I run to them these 500 metres, yes, I will explode on these mines, on these petals, I will not help them, and they are carrying them anyway, so they have to come closer to me, and I stand and wait. And they come closer to me and don't explode, that's happiness. But, unfortunately, there were cases when the guys just, we drove up to them, they got out, and limbs were blown off, right in front of our eyes. But it's good that you're already standing ready with a turnstile. But it's good that they have lost those limbs right in front of our eyes, jumping into the car.
He says I was lying there for half a day, waiting for evacuation, I thought I was going to die, that's it. I saw the car, us, and I don't know how I just jumped in, you know.
What day did the medics leave? When did you leave?
We did not have such a thing - yes, dear friends, we are going somewhere. We have not had such a thing.
I receive a command, yes, departure, I am leaving. And I have a point, we are at... we have named evacuation points, and I receive a message that I am no longer going to Vuhledar. I mean, I'm coming here. And that's it. It's obvious that the enemy has entered there.
I was constantly thinking that our guys might be left there. How they would get out. And I... how will they get through? I... you know, these are thoughts like... like childish thoughts, yes. When the enemy comes in, they don't come in in a circle. They can slip through somewhere, I hope, yes, somehow get out. I... because these thoughts make it a little bit, you know, scary when you realise that our guys might be left there. How we were leaving, I'll tell you frankly, I don't understand how we were leaving. We were pushed out by the enemy, really.
Do you remember saying you couldn't come?
That I can't come? I never said that. I always said that I can. Now we will turn on, think, pray to God, EW is gone, but God is there, and there is gas. I have never refused. And I know there are people around me who have never refused. People who are afraid to arrive, I understand them too. They... they start to panic, they can't pull themselves together, you can't condemn anyone, and everyone here... I'll tell you, everyone who is at the front, they are all heroes for me, everyone. No matter what they do. Everyone.
We had not been sleeping for 10 days there. And then we were afraid to sleep. Because when we were waiting for the next evac, we were already in such a state...
No one could sleep, no one ate because they could not eat. We had everything, everything, food, everything, but no one could eat. During those breaks, when some people smoked a cigarette, some people didn't, during those breaks between evacuations, what did we do? We tried to get them somewhere safer. This is how we kept ourselves, you know, switched, so to speak.
There were 6-9 GABs a day. It was simply impossible to even get out, move, or leave. So, we had to do everything quickly in order not to die. And the animals, the same dogs and cats, when they saw us, we would fly out of our hiding place with a car to go to the evacuation, as soon as I opened the door, they would all just jump in. They jumped into the car to us. It was also, you know, interesting to watch. Well, stray animals are wild, of course they go to the military, because we feed them. So they jumped into our car because of this danger.
And we have lost this city, and of course the line of defence is shifting, цe understand that there are fields beyond, the enemy is moving further, it's clear, but somehow, I don't know, this loss is very painful. This is Vuhledar, this is Bohoiavlenka. I can't say that it is already there... whether it is native or not, that's not the point. I can't... I can't believe it yet, that there are... orcs, honestly. I just can't believe it. It's just so hard.
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How did I decide to be a combat medic... first of all, why a medic, because... this is my dream since childhood, medicine, you know, for an infantryman it's aviation, so for me it's cardiac surgery, everything else. But I did not become a doctor. I worked in law enforcement, I had been working for all my life, I had been working in the police and in the militia. That's it. Now... now I am working as an investigator at the State Bureau of Investigation. I was not dismissed from my position, yes, I mobilised voluntarily.
But I have a priority, I think that here, at the moment, this is a bigger priority for me. That's my opinion. There. I still have my position.
I raised children, so yes, medicine is what I like. But because of my job, I was always the first to arrive at the scene of an accident and everything else. I always provided assistance. That's when the ambulance couldn't arrive or there wasn't enough time. And I am interested in all this, I love it, and I can do it, and I know how to do it. To give an infusion or something else, it's not difficult, I like it. When the war broke out, my children went abroad to study, they are 18 years old, we had planned that, but we did not plan the war in our lives. Someone might have expected it, maybe, I don't know, I'm one of those people who didn't believe it was possible at all, well, in our time. This barbaric killing of people, I... I still can't believe it. And at work, I said that I would probably go to war if Arestovych did not prove that the war would end in two weeks. That's it. Well, it was all so clear ... summer was beginning, I could see that this war was unlikely to end. And here people do such a difficult job. And for me, what I do is important. It is very important. Someone can do it, but I can do it too. I can do it. I'm sure that hardly any of my colleagues will come here. Two of us joined, one guy from Lviv, unfortunately, he died, a hero, he mobilised too, and passed away. And I'm from another city, so I have made this decision. And I've just said that I was going to join, and no one believed it, of course. I was not liable for military service, because women are not liable for military service. I came... I came to the TCR, I didn't say where I had been working, of course. And I didn't have a military ID, I said I wanted to be mobilised, I have a certificate, I passed combat medicine, tactical medicine, I went through all this because I was preparing for it. In July, I passed the tactical medicine and in September I got a call from the TCR: Pass the MMC, I passed, where do you want to go? I said, I want to be a combat medic. To which brigade? I said, I don't know, some combat brigade. Why would a combat medic work as a combat medic, somewhere, probably... in combat, right, it's logical (Laughs). And they said there was the 72nd Brigade, but it was only in the very centre of hell. I said, Oh, I have to go there. I will go, work, save someone. For a year, or two at the most, I planned to be with the guys, to be here together. I've never been a tourist, I've never camped in tents, and here... I think everyone can do it, and I can do it.
What cases did you work on at the SBI?
I worked on different cases, but I can't say that because it's... there are no verdicts yet, it's a secret of the pre-trial investigation.
The jurisdiction of the SBI, if you are interested, includes the army... military officers, including. These are high-ranking officials, law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, the SSU, the police. These are all subjects of the SBI's jurisdiction.
This is also an extremely important job for the country.
I have chosen what I consider to be the most important for me personally, to do this work. For me personally. You know, I'll tell you, just in terms of dry figures, in terms of staffing, among my colleagues, I have colleagues from the military, and the SBI, I am not working with them now, we have got a set there. And here I will tell you, more than half of the staff is missing.
Liubov (Serena) Zalyvadna
How has your attitude to your colleagues who did not leave changed here?
I don't care what's in every person's head.
I have no disrespect for anyone. It's not right to disrespect them. It's their choice. It's... you know, I care what I think, what I do. I... I have no disrespect for anyone. I don't have. It's their responsibility, it's their choice how to live. I don't care how they live, you know. I think about my children, I think about my comrades. I would like this doctor to have an officer's rank, that's what worries me more. And the fact that somewhere, someone doesn't want or wants, or maybe it's theirs, I don't care about them at all. It's their lives...
They say you're a lieutenant colonel of the SBI, an investigator, well, my people found out immediately through word of mouth, or whoever brought it to them, so what now? There's a doctor, an engineer, a tractor driver, and I'm a SBI investigator, yes. I've been in law enforcement for 28 years, since I was 16, 28 years of experience, let's say, as of today. I don't know how to drive a tractor, let's say I would like to be taught how to drive a tractor, then I will go on a MTLB, I have learnt it all. Why is this a negative thing, it should be a positive thing. Why do people think that I came here and it's a negative thing? Firstly, it's either, you know, they say he went to war to hide from prison, a loan, a woman, or something else. At first, I didn't understand what they were talking about. I think it's a shame for me, at my age, to say that I... i don't understand. I don't understand what they are talking about. Why can this be... you shouldn't pay attention to it at all. And if you should pay attention, it's to do the same, that's all.
Has there been any reassessment of values?
It has not been. My values have not changed since I was 16. There was no reassessment of values. Why did I go to war?
Now you say I don't care about my career.
No, it is important. I have already done it. If I am promoted to colonel, should I be appointed minister of defence or what? I'm a lieutenant colonel. Well, where... you can get a lieutenant colonel. You can get a general, too. But not here, not as a combat medic, do you understand what I mean? I mean, I already have a career. I already have it. But here... well, it's... it's necessary if I... lieutenant colonel, yes, well, to equate my rank, this is first a major's procedure, then what will I be, a combat medic? To take out the wounded, to carry this... then, of course, I will be appointed to some position, of course, you understand. But I think that... I'm doing well, I'm doing everything well, everything is great, right? I'm just one of those people, I do things. He does it, the other does it. And it's a process and it's important. That's what I mean.
Iryna Storozhenko
