In a field hospital on the eastern front all was calm. And then, suddenly, it wasn’t. A casualty arrived. It was a badly wounded Ukrainian soldier. An enemy mortar had landed nearby, leaving him with shrapnel wounds. Within seconds a team of medics got to work. Their operating theatre was in a former apartment, now functioning as a clinic. Children’s drawings with patriotic messages – Glory to Ukraine! – hung on the wall.
The unconscious patient was transferred onto an operating table. He looked more dead than alive. Doctors gave emergency transfusions of blood and plasma. A paramedic cut away his uniform. Another bandaged his left leg. A third gave him a shot of fentanyl, a powerful painkiller. A heart monitor beeped. Outside were regular whumps from outgoing Ukrainian artillery. The frontline with the Russians was 5km away.
