When Russia launched its invasion in 2022, Roman Vozniak gave up his old life. A civilian doctor, he joined Ukraine’s national guard. “I decided to become a combat medic. I told my wife I’d be home in two months,” he said. Two years later, Vozniak is still working on the frontline, treating wounded soldiers. “Your job is to stop people dying. It’s simple. If someone doesn’t make it, you move on. You have to act quickly”.
Vozniak is based in Sviatohirsk, a picturesque city in the eastern Donetsk region. Once, tourists would visit its turquoise-domed 16th-century monastery, built at the bottom of a steep chalk hill, and relax in beach cafes along the willow-lined Siverskyi Donets River. In May 2022, Russian forces arrived. They occupied Sviatohirsk for four months. By the time they left, pushed out after a battle, houses and sanatoriums had been destroyed.
