Emergency call: how a unique medical team works in the Kursk region
Drone attacks, shelling, requests from civilians for evacuation — the situation remains tense in the border areas of the Kursk region. Therefore, it is here that the base of the unique medical evacuation unit, created with the support of the National Assistance Center and operating under the leadership of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, is organized. Day and night duty, emergency site visits several times a day, sky monitoring — the enormously important work of rapid response teams helps save lives and offloads military resources. It's too early to talk about who makes up the backbone of the squad, how many minutes are given for emergency training, and why it's too early to talk about returning to a full—fledged peaceful life in the Kursk region, according to the Izvestia report.
Self-organization is important
One of the regional centers of the Kursk region, two dozen kilometers from the border. There are several squad members in standby mode. Each of them is a medic, a driver, and a shooter. They're all locals, Kuryans. Yulia, an intensive care physician, spends part of her time at her main job in Kursk, and part of her time here on a voluntary basis. There are three replacement female doctors in the squad.
Before departure
On the table is a special device with an antenna and a screen, it monitors radio signals in a certain radius and informs about the appearance of enemy drones in the sky. In a separate room there are bulletproof vests, helmets, medical backpacks, weapons. There are also crowbars, pickaxes, and axes needed to rescue victims from homes and cars. The time to collect in case of a call is 10 minutes.
The commander and organizer of the squad is Alan. Also a local. In 2014, he left for Donbass. He served in the intelligence service in the evacuation group. Then there were Mariupol, Izyum, and Kherson. After being wounded, he returned to Kursk, where he proved himself to be a military instructor — he trained volunteers from national squads.
Alan is the organizer and commander of the evacuation squad
"People in areas where there is a threat of attack should be prepared,— Alan says. — It is important for the volunteers of the national teams to organize themselves in advance, to learn medicine, shooting, tactics. Ordinary citizens must have an "alarm suitcase" in case of evacuation, which contains all the documents, duplicate keys, dry rations for three days, water, jewelry, valuables, medicines, and a change of clothes. When firing, it is better to go down to the lower floors.
Alan shared this and other knowledge with his fellow instructors with those who came to the training center in Kursk from all over the region in 2023. Now he's working with these guys in the same squad.
Kamikaze attacks
There are several cars on duty. One is designed to transport the seriously injured, and its cabin has all the necessary equipment, including a ventilator. On others, you can pick up "lungs" — several people at once.
The situation in the region remains difficult
The Kursk region has long been liberated from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but fighting is taking place in neighboring Sumy region, where the Russian army is creating a buffer zone of several tens of kilometers to exclude any attacks and shelling of Russian territory. The wounded in the battles there are taken to the Kursk region.
The tactics of evacuating the "three hundredths" in the first stages are standard: paramedics or comrades-in-arms pull them out of the "red" zone. Further, the first qualified assistance is provided at field medical centers. And then they are intercepted by Alan's evacuation group (a unique unit of its kind), which takes the injured soldiers to the "green" zone, where they get to the operating tables.
Military Medic's Backpack
Alexander, call sign Marshal, is among the guys who took over his shift today. In the recent past, he was the head of the fire department guard. He explains that he changed his activity profile because evacuation is a hotter area.
A burning car after an APU drone attack
"The enemy continues to hit populated areas with Grads, Hammers, and artillery," he says. — Take, for example, Rylsk — rocket arrivals occur regularly. There is a high drone danger on the highways just outside the city. Sometimes the Ukrainian Armed Forces carry out attacks involving several dozen FPV kamikazes and burn everything, including civilian vehicles.
Sergey, call sign Bald: to help from drones - own double-barreled shotgun
His partner is Sergey, call sign Bald, a former judo and hand—to—hand combat coach. Now he has no students, almost all the children have left the village. The fighter cites the example of a recent massive attack by Ukrainian copters, which killed four villagers. Sergey participated in that departure. On the spot, they found a burning car that had slid into a ditch: the women were able to get out, they received severe burns, and the man and the boy-son in the back seat died. Later it turns out that Sergey once taught martial arts to the deceased guy.…
The security card
Last November, the guys evacuated a woman from a border village — people, especially the elderly, are drawn to their native places, and then they find themselves in a mousetrap. According to Alan, we had to wait three days for the "window" — drones were rampant. When there was a gap, we rushed in two cars (one always as a cover and a backup vehicle). We arrived, there were five minutes for everything about everything. They took my grandmother and came back.
A bombed civilian car in the Kursk region
Another time, the bodies of civilians were taken out. They saw pictures of a man lying by a downed motorcycle in one place, and a dead man in another.…
Sometimes squad members simply react to sounds. There was a pop in the hearing area — without waiting for someone to report, they contact the checkpoints around the perimeter of the city and find out the situation, or they go right away. Recently, a fuel tanker driver who worked for a grain company was assisted in this way. There are no regular ambulances in the district center, peaceful life has not yet returned.
Flowers at the place of civilian deaths
While we are talking, the radio on the table is signaling — an airplane-type kamikaze is circling over the neighboring Korenevo (which means it has a large charge). After hanging there and probably not finding the right target, he set off in the direction of Lgov. The guys explain that their competence is to keep track of where an explosion may occur, so as not to waste valuable time in case of an emergency. And also to inform the population on social networks about dangerous routes: people carefully read public publications, choosing a route or deciding whether to go or not. The messages are written by other initiative teams, the military, and the security map is compiled by joint efforts.
After the APU drone attack
At one point, the very emergency call arrives — lightly wounded soldiers in Korenevo, it is necessary to take them out and transfer them to disaster medicine. The members of the squad, who were dozing before, take off from their seats. I'm marking the time — the cars will start in exactly seven minutes. Several more people remain at the base, including Julia, an anesthesiologist. A new signal, including about "heavy" ones, may arrive at any minute.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
