KYIV — Vitaliy, a young doctor from western Ukraine on a surgery apprenticeship in Kyiv, has hardly left his emergency ward in the 12 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country. Vitaliy told BuzzFeed News that he operates nearly around the clock on soldiers and civilians wounded by air strikes, artillery fire, and gunshots in the fight for the Ukrainian capital.
Among the dozens he has helped, he said there was something different about three soldiers who were brought in about a week ago. They were wearing Ukrainian-type uniforms and claimed they were from Kyiv, but they couldn’t speak a word of Ukrainian, name a single neighborhood in the capital city, or offer up any documentation to prove their residency. They spoke only Russian — and with an accent more common in Moscow than in Kyiv. And they behaved in a somewhat cold manner toward the medical staff treating them, refusing to answer many questions.
Hospital staff and Ukrainian police were eventually able to confirm the men were Russian soldiers, Vitaliy said in an interview Thursday. “They were very scared.”
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar wrote on Facebook on Feb. 25 that Russian forces had “seized two Ukrainian army vehicles and changed into Ukrainian uniforms” during a failed assault on the northern Obolon district of Kyiv. Similar information has circulated in other military reports.
The soldiers who Vitaliy operated on are believed by Kyiv authorities to have participated in that initial assault on the capital that has continued in the days since.
Vitaliy spoke to BuzzFeed News on the condition that his last name and the hospital he works at are not printed for security reasons, but he sent BuzzFeed News two videos to verify where he worked. He said the three soldiers on whom he operated were conscious when they arrived, adding that they had been shot several times and one of the men’s legs was broken.
“One of them was very seriously wounded and he died,” he said.
The other two survived and are being kept in a small jail inside the hospital while they recover, Vitaliy said.
Vitaliy felt deeply conflicted about helping save enemy lives.
“I think we should help them but of course sometimes the feeling I have about it is horrible. It feels like I’m doing something wrong,” he said. “Like, I can be helping my people but I have to spend time helping that piece of shit.”
It’s especially hard to show compassion given the brutality that Putin and his military have unleashed on Ukrainians. Bombs and shells have razed entire towns. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said Sunday that it had recorded “1,123 civilian casualties in the country: 364 killed and 759 injured” — very likely an undercount.
