Ukrainian medics prepare for frontline

ABC NEWS (Australia)

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says ongoing attacks on Ukraine shows Russia’s unwillingness to end the war. With US backed ceasefire talks making little progress Ukraine’s military is doing all it can to hold the front line. It has just sent a group to the UK for combat medicine training, and reporter Mazoe Ford was invited along to observe.

Transcript

00:00On a property in the north of England, a mass casualty event is unfolding.

00:10It would be a confronting scene if it was real, but this is a military training exercise.

00:17Members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have come to the UK for six weeks of battlefield

00:22medicine training.

00:23We've been asked not to identify them for their safety.

00:26Ultimately it's all about saving lives and giving the surgeon a live casualty, but also

00:31that they can actually share their skills with other Ukrainians and that it can be passed

00:36on.

00:37When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago, this trainee we'll

00:42call Anna was just a student.

00:44Now she evacuates injured soldiers from the front line.

00:49This job makes your adrenaline jump and you must forget about your own emotions.

00:54The most important thing is to save lives.

00:57As diplomats keep pushing for a ceasefire, training programs such as this will continue.

01:03The soldiers here are sceptical a ceasefire would ever hold, so they want these skills

01:08to take back to the front line.

01:11It won't work with Russians.

01:12They will not stand ceasefire.

01:14They will not follow anything.

01:16They do only what they want, so they use the ceasefire only for preparation for next attack.

01:22If a deal is reached to stop the fighting, Russian President Vladimir Putin says he'll

01:27oppose foreign peacekeepers in Ukraine.

01:30But France and the UK hope to put together what they're calling a reassurance force.

01:35I'd go to Ukraine tomorrow.

01:36Obviously there's talk about British troops going in.

01:39I'd be happy to go and support my colleagues, our partner nations, in their fight against this.

01:45If I could help support a lasting peace in Ukraine, I absolutely would, if that was what

01:51was asked of me.

01:52For now, they say they'll keep helping Ukraine on British soil, for as long as they're needed.

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