Jonathan Beale
While Moscow considers a temporary ceasefire, its military machine continues to press its advantage on the front line. Diplomatic negotiations can be slow and difficult. But on the battlefield, they can be measured in lost lives.
At a military hospital in eastern Ukraine, the injured arrive by ambulance in waves. Here, there's an obvious disconnect between diplomacy taking place, far from the fighting, and the brutality of battle – where human bodies are still being smashed, shredded and scarred by bombs and bullets.
We watch another two dozen injured Ukrainian soldiers being loaded on to a bus to be taken to a hospital in Dnipro – some walking wounded, others carried on stretchers. The bus is fitted out with medical equipment to monitor the injured as they're driven fast over potholed roads.
The men on board are the less severely wounded. Most have been hit by shrapnel. The cause is often what's now the most prolific and feared weapon on the front line – drones.
None of those we talked to believe this war will be ending any time soon. Thirty-year-old Maksym is on a stretcher with an IV drip to relieve some of the pain from several shrapnel wounds across his body. He says he'd heard the talk of a temporary 30-day ceasefire, but adds: "I consider Putin a murderer and murderers don't agree so easily."
Advertisement
No comments:
Post a Comment