Those who have accepted the possibility that they might die no longer go to shelters

Dentist-turned-military medic from western Ukraine first helped the wounded at Maidan in Kyiv in 2014.

A Ukrainian soldier walks past debris of a burning military truck, on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022.A Ukrainian soldier walks past debris of a burning military truck, on a street in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. (Source: AP/TASR)

Dmytro Savchenko is a Ukrainian dentist, who has served in the military hospital in the city of Rivne in north-western Ukraine since the war started.

He teaches soldiers, police officers and civilians how to drag the wounded after a shooting.

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He first saw dead and wounded people in 2014 at Independence Square in Kyiv, when police forces shot at protestors.

"It's not like in a movie, that someone runs and throws the wounded person across their shoulder," he said. The most difficult thing is deciding whom to help and who needs to be left behind.

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What is the situation in the city? Are you hiding?

I'm at home in Rivne. I don't go to the shelters anymore, I see no sense in that any longer. I said to myself that I'd rather die at home than somewhere underground with four thousand other people.

From 10 pm, you cannot go out, otherwise the chances are high you get shot. Last week we had to stay at home in the evening, sitting in darkness. Now we can switch on the light.

Don't you hide even when the siren goes off?

I don't. Last week, they went off up to eight times a day, now it's twice or three times a day. If I want to do something at the hospital, I cannot keep running to hide. Those who have accepted the possibility that they might die no longer go to shelters.

So you are reconciled with such a possibility?

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Yes. This is my home and I will defend it as long as I can.

What is your day like?

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