Latest news with #Oleksii
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Performing amputation with kitchen knife under rubble: the story of Ukrainian military surgeon Oleksii Nosulko
Ukrainian military surgeon Oleksii Nosulko has carried out one of the most extreme operations while lying beside a wounded soldier in a narrow gap between the concrete slabs of a destroyed building. Source: Ukrainska Pravda. Zhyttia (Life), citing Nosulko's story shared by Ukraine's Medical Forces Details: Oleksii was a civilian burn care specialist before the full-scale invasion. He worked at the Centre for Thermal Trauma and Reconstructive Surgery in Dnipro, regularly attended military reserve training and kept his skills up to date. He enlisted in Ukraine's Armed Forces on 25 February 2022, after preparing his local hospital to receive the wounded. After gaining experience in military surgery, Nosulko was transferred to an advanced surgical unit in Zaporizhzhia. His first rotation took place in January 2023 near Huliaipole. Ukraine commenced a counteroffensive in this war zone area on 4 June 2023. Nosulko's team treated around 150 wounded soldiers on the first day alone. "The first three days were so intense they felt like one endless day," Oleksii recalls. "In the first 24 hours alone, we treated around 150 wounded – from light shrapnel injuries, contusions and acute stress reactions to the most severe injuries: amputations, multiple penetrating wounds to the chest, abdomen and head." The most extreme challenge came in the summer of 2024, when an airstrike brought down a building, trapping a wounded soldier beneath it. His legs were pinned by a concrete slab weighing several tonnes. His brothers-in-arms managed to dig a narrow passage, but there was no way to pull him free. The only chance to save his life was to amputate his legs right under the rubble. First, an anaesthetist from the brigade crawled into the concrete trap to stabilise the soldier, helping him breathe, inserting a drip and administering pain relief. Then Oleksii reached the wounded trooper. "I amputated his right leg without much difficulty, but his left leg was partially buried under rubble and concrete," Oleksii recalls. "I had to dig out a niche with my hands, place a tourniquet inside, and begin cutting through the knee joint. The anaesthetic started to wear off, so a syringe with more painkiller was thrown down to me." "I broke all the scalpels, and through the same niche, they handed me an ordinary kitchen knife, which I used to continue the amputation," Nosulko says. "With great difficulty, I managed to remove the second leg. After that, both the wounded soldier and I were pulled out of the hole." The wounded soldier remained conscious for all six hours while his comrades worked tirelessly to free him. Enduring intense pain, he repeatedly asked his brothers-in-arms for a pistol. "I was asked several times if I was scared or had doubts about going into that hole," Oleksii recalled. "I guess my answer is that it's not for nothing that we wear shoulder straps along with our medical suits. Sometimes, you have to overcome your fear and step up, not just as a doctor, but as a combat officer. My fear is nothing compared to what the patient has endured." After both legs were amputated, the wounded soldier was evacuated to a stabilisation centre, where his wounds were cleaned, he underwent shock treatment and a conversion of tourniquets. He was later transferred to a hospital for further care. "I know that he survived and underwent several major operations," the military surgeon says. "Now, after a long rehabilitation, the lad is walking on prostheses. This motivates me to keep working. However, I'm not sure if this story can influence other doctors. After all, it shows that the service of a military doctor does not always mean a warm, sterile operating theatre and normal safe conditions." At home, Oleksii's beloved wife and son are eagerly awaiting his return, while his mother worries about both Oleksii and his younger brother, who also enlisted in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. "My little son is growing up. I realise that everything I do is for the sake of him and other children. So that the war will not be inherited by their generation," Oleksii concludes. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
The National
27-04-2025
- Politics
- The National
Visa rules leave Glasgow's Ukrainian refugees ‘unemployable'
Oleksii Koliukh, 31, and his wife Ana Bohuslavska, 31, came to Scotland when Russia invaded their home near Ukraine's capital of Kyiv. The couple, who live in Pollok, have spoken of the struggle to find permanent work. They face a similar situation to many Ukrainians who came to Scotland after the war began in 2022 and are now seeing their initial visas expire. To stay longer, they're applying under the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, which lets them live, work, and study in the UK for another 18 months — but it doesn't offer a path to stay permanently. This situation has left many struggling to secure long-term employment, as the restrictions render them "unemployable". Oleksii and Ana (Image: Supplied)Oleksii said: 'When the Government announced the visa extension, it didn't change much for us. 'We feel discriminated against compared to other refugees. We also feel unwelcome, as if we don't deserve the chance to stay – despite working, paying taxes, renting or paying a mortgage. 'We know people who want to start businesses here too, even students who don't have enough time to complete their education.' Software engineer Oleksii was told that he wouldn't be able to proceed with his application for a job recently, as the company consider him only available short-term. Ana, who's a Videographer, has been actively looking for work for the past year and a half, but says it's been hard due to the temporary visas. Having now settled in Glasgow's southside, however, they have developed a love for the city, Oleksii said: "The people were incredibly kind when we came here. "Locals did whatever they could to help, and charities stepped in with essentials like clothes and toiletries. Food banks were also a great help. 'We really enjoy Glasgow – especially the abundance of green spaces and the fantastic museums.' In a survey conducted among Ukrainian displaced people in early December 2024 by the Ukraine Collective, 57.5% stated that visa uncertainty negatively impacts their ability to find or retain employment. Olha Maksymiak, an adviser on matters of people displaced from Ukraine in Scotland, said: 'Many face rejections even at the interview stage – if their visa is set to expire soon, securing a permanent contract, undergoing training, or advancing in their profession becomes nearly impossible. It leaves them virtually unemployable on a permanent basis. 'The constant fear of losing their job and housing has left people emotionally exhausted. This is particularly painful for single parents who are trying to provide stability for their children. 'Many are forced to accept temporary jobs far below their qualifications, serving only as a means of earning some income.' Olha Maksymiak (Image: Supplied)Iryna Lutsyshyn is a qualified lawyer with over eight years of experience and has been looking for a job for the past two and a half years. The 32-year-old, who's settled in Coatbridge, said: 'In November of last year, I attended an interview for a legal secretary position at a small law firm in Glasgow. The interview went well, and towards the end, my potential employer inquired about my eligibility to work in the UK and the duration of my visa. 'I'm currently allowed to work until July this year and can only apply for a visa extension no earlier than 28 days before its expiration. 'After I explained this, they said that while I was a strong candidate for the role, they required assurance that I could work on a permanent basis.' This assurance is something that some refugees are unable to provide with the current visa restrictions. Oleksii and Ana's hometown, Irpin, has been devastated by the war (Image: Supplied)Scottish Greens Justice, Equalities, Social Justice and Human Rights spokesperson, Maggie Chapman MSP, said: 'Ukrainian refugees deserve to be here. Offering no permanent option doesn't just threaten their stability but is an insult to the lives they've built here. 'This short-term extension scheme is a needless barrier, offering no security. It will punish people who are already facing a great humanitarian crisis. 'The war is still not over – they still need somewhere, out of the warzone, to call home. 'If Keir Starmer wants to show that he isn't just Donald Trump's doormat and really does support Ukraine, he'll offer some stability to its refugees with the opportunity to make their UK home permanent.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Immigration is a reserved matter for the UK Government. While the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme will give displaced people some stability, what has been announced falls short of what Ukrainians need to overcome the barriers created by short-term visas. 'We support an approach that offers Ukrainians the ability to make informed choices about their future and would encourage them to apply for the extension scheme before their existing visa expires.' The Home Office refused to comment on the issue. Oleksii and Ana at a protest (Image: Supplied)Olha added: 'This situation requires not short-term fixes but a clear and long-term strategy. 'Without immediate action, many skilled and hardworking individuals risk being pushed into unemployment and uncertainty, undermining the very purpose of the humanitarian response.'
Glasgow Times
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
Visa rules leave Glasgow's Ukrainian refugees ‘unemployable'
Oleksii Koliukh, 31, and his wife Ana Bohuslavska, 31, came to Scotland when Russia invaded their home near Ukraine's capital, Kyiv. The couple, who live in Pollok, have spoken of the struggle to find permanent work. They face a similar situation to many Ukrainians who came to Scotland after the war began in 2022 and are now seeing their initial visas expire. To stay longer, they're applying under the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, which lets them live, work, and study in the UK for another 18 months — but it doesn't offer a path to stay permanently. This situation has left many struggling to secure long-term employment, as the restrictions render them 'unemployable'. Oleksii and Ana (Image: Supplied)Oleksii said: 'When the government announced the visa extension, it didn't change much for us. 'We feel discriminated against compared to other refugees. We also feel unwelcome, as if we don't deserve the chance to stay—despite working, paying taxes, renting or paying a mortgage. 'We know people who want to start businesses here too, even students who don't have enough time to complete their education.' Software engineer Oleksii was told that he wouldn't be able to proceed with his application for a job recently as the company consider him only available short-term. Ana, who's a Videographer, has been actively looking for work for the past year and a half, but says it's been hard due to the temporary visas. Having now settled in Glasgow's Southside, however, they have developed a love for the city, Oleksii said: "The people were incredibly kind when we came here. "Locals did whatever they could to help, and charities stepped in with essentials like clothes and toiletries. Food banks were also a great help. 'We really enjoy Glasgow—especially the abundance of green spaces and the fantastic museums.' In a survey conducted among Ukrainian displaced people in early December 2024 by the Ukraine Collective, 57.5% stated that visa uncertainty negatively impacts their ability to find or retain employment. Olha Maksymiak, an Adviser on Matters of People Displaced from Ukraine in Scotland, said: 'Many face rejections even at the interview stage—if their visa is set to expire soon, securing a permanent contract, undergoing training, or advancing in their profession becomes nearly impossible. It leaves them virtually unemployable on a permanent basis. 'The constant fear of losing their job and housing has left people emotionally exhausted. This is particularly painful for single parents who are trying to provide stability for their children. 'Many are forced to accept temporary jobs far below their qualifications, serving only as a means of earning some income.' Olha Maksymiak (Image: Supplied)Iryna Lutsyshyn is a qualified lawyer with over eight years of experience and has been looking for a job for the past two and a half years. The 32-year-old, who's settled in Coatbridge, said: 'In November of last year, I attended an interview for a legal secretary position at a small law firm in Glasgow. The interview went well, and towards the end, my potential employer inquired about my eligibility to work in the UK and the duration of my visa. 'I'm currently allowed to work until July this year and can only apply for a visa extension no earlier than 28 days before its expiration. 'After I explained this, they said that while I was a strong candidate for the role, they required assurance that I could work on a permanent basis.' This assurance is something that some refugees are unable to provide with the current visa restrictions. Oleksii and Ana's hometown, Irpin, has been devastated by the war (Image: Supplied)Scottish Greens Justice, Equalities, Social Justice and Human Rights spokesperson, Maggie Chapman MSP, said: 'Ukrainian refugees deserve to be here. Offering no permanent option doesn't just threaten their stability but is an insult to the lives they've built here. 'This short-term extension scheme is a needless barrier, offering no security. It will punish people who are already facing a great humanitarian crisis. 'The war is still not over – they still need somewhere, out of the warzone, to call home. 'If Keir Starmer wants to show that he isn't just Donald Trump's doormat and really does support Ukraine, he'll offer some stability to its refugees with the opportunity to make their UK home permanent.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Immigration is a reserved matter for the UK Government. While the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme will give displaced people some stability, what has been announced falls short of what Ukrainians need to overcome the barriers created by short-term visas. 'We support an approach that offers Ukrainians the ability to make informed choices about their future and would encourage them to apply for the extension scheme before their existing visa expires.' The Home Office refused to comment on the issue. Oleksii and Ana at a protest (Image: Supplied)Olha added: 'This situation requires not short-term fixes but a clear and long-term strategy. 'Without immediate action, many skilled and hardworking individuals risk being pushed into unemployment and uncertainty, undermining the very purpose of the humanitarian response.'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Man and his daughter killed in Russian drone strike on Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
On the night of 24-25 April, a Russian drone strike on a residential building in the city of Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killed Oleksii Khlibets, a miner and combine operator at Heroes of Space Coal Mine of Ukraine's largest private energy company DTEK. The man died in his flat. Source: press service for DTEK Details: Oleksii's 15-year-old daughter Valeriia was also killed. His wife, Oksana, sustained severe injuries. DTEK reported that doctors are currently fighting to save her life. Background: On the night of 24-25 April, Russian forces attacked Dnipropetrovsk Oblast with drones, causing fires in several settlements. Three people were killed and 14 others injured in Pavlohrad. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
‘They cannot be jammed': fibre optic drones pose new threat in Ukraine
On the battlefields of Ukraine, new sights emerge. Thread-like filaments of wire, extended across open fields. Netting rigged up between trees along key supply roads. Both are responses to a hard-to-detect weapon able to sneak into spaces previously thought safe, hi tech and low tech all at once. At a secret workshop in Ukraine's north-east, where about 20 people assemble hundreds of FPV (first person view) drones, there is a new design. Under the frame of the familiar quadcopter is a cylinder, the size of a forearm. Coiled up inside is fibre optic cable, 10km (6 miles) or even 20km long, to create a wired kamikaze drone. Capt Yuriy Fedorenko, the commander of a specialist drone unit, the Achilles regiment, says fibre optic drones were an experimental response to battlefield jamming and rapidly took off late last year. With no radio connection, they cannot be jammed, are difficult to detect and able to fly in ways conventional FPV drones cannot. 'If pilots are experienced, they can fly these drones very low and between the trees in a forest or tree line. If you are flying with a regular drone, the trees block the signal unless you have a re-transmitter close,' he observes. Where tree lined supply roads were thought safer, fibre optic drones have been able to get through. A video from a Russian military Telegram channel from last month demonstrates their ominous capability. A fibre optic drone, the nose of the yellow cylinder housing the coil clearly visible, flies with precision a few centimetres from the ground, to strike a Ukrainian howitzer concealed in a barn, a location clearly previously considered safe. Soldiers have quickly come to fear them. Oleksii, a combat medic, working in Pokrovsk, the busiest front in Ukraine's east, says daytime evacuations of the wounded, already very difficult, have become impossible. 'It's just not happening now there are fibre optic drones. They cannot be jammed and for now they are the main concern for the guys on the frontline,' he said. But as Fedorenko acknowledges, it is Russia that, at least for now, 'is well ahead of us' – largely because Moscow has had greater access to fibre optic cabling, with Ukraine scrambling to catch up. Fibre optic drones were heavily used in Russia's counterattack in Kursk and experts believe they were an element in Moscow's success in largely rolling up Ukraine's salient in March. Experts estimate that drones of all types now contribute to about 70% to 80% of military casualties on both sides. As for fibre optic craft, Samuel Bendett, a drone expert with the Center for Naval Analyses, said they appear to be proving useful at the start of an assault, in an environment where cheap remotely piloted vehicles are increasingly taking the place of artillery. 'Since these drones cannot be jammed by electronic warfare, they're used as a first wave of attack to target adversarial electronic warfare and jamming capability. That then clears the way for regular radio-controlled FPV drones to strike,' he said. Because they are wired, they also deliver high quality images of the target – useful for battlefield intelligence – 'up until the last second of the strike'. At the urban workshop, part of the Achilles regiment, Dmytro, gives a tour. A conventional FPV drone can cost $400 (£302), excluding the price of its explosive payload, but the cable adds the same amount again. There are complications with the equipment, the cabling is sensitive to damage and its connector to contamination with dust – but the biggest problem is retraining drone pilots. 'I think each operator [pilot] will have five or six failed missions [in training],' Dmytro says because the craft handles differently. Ten kilometres of fibre optic cable weighs approximately 1.2 to 1.4kg, inevitably transforming how the drone flies through the air. But with drones already the primary weapon on an expanding battlefield, both sides have tens of thousands of pilots ready and willing to learn. The question now is whether fibre optic drones become even more important. Dmytro estimates that about a tenth of the workshop's drone output consists of fibre optic drones, in line with estimates from analysts such as Bendett. This week, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, discussed the drones with his senior military commanders in Ukraine's general staff. 'Since the beginning of this year, more than 20 new certified drone models with fibre optic control systems have emerged. Eleven of our Ukrainian enterprises have already mastered the production of such drones,' Zelenskyy said, promising to ramp up production as soon as possible. Unlike the early days of the war, drone supply of all types to the military is increasingly dominated by the Ukrainian state, not donations. A week earlier, Ukraine's chief military commander, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, reported that '77,000 enemy targets' were engaged and destroyed by drones of all types. On fibre optic drones in particular, the general confirmed that Ukraine was deploying craft with 'a kill range of 20km' underlining how far the battlefield has become extended beyond the traditional idea of frontline trenches. On Saturday night, about half a dozen drones, almost certainly Ukrainian, hit a Russian fibre optic factory in Saransk, about 400 miles from the border. A long range drone targeted it again the next day. The Optic Fibre Systems site was described by Baza, a Russian Telegram channel with links to the security services, as the only fibre optic plant in the country, though the level of the damage caused remains unclear. There are examples of drone operators from earlier this year being able to trace the cables back to the positions from where they were launched and target the enemy crews. But if this technique was a successful one, fibre optic drones would have disappeared as soon as they appeared on the battlefield, when – from presidents to workshops – all the talk is of increasing numbers. Other means of countering fibre optic drones are emerging. At the simplest level, the increasingly prevalent netting is designed to entangle the drone and its cables. Ukraine is also seeking to devise ways to sever or burn the cables. 'That is the question everybody asks, if it's possible to destroy the cable,' Fedorenko says. 'I will tell you it's very strong, but we are working on it.'
