Oleksandr Sokoliuk, callsign "Falcon", is a captain in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and head of the evacuation unit of the 93rd Brigade. He has been evacuating the wounded from the battlefield for a year. First, from the vicinity of Izium, then for ten months from Bakhmut and its outskirts, and now from the town itself. We met Sokoliuk in December of 2022. He was taking the wounded from the vicinity of Bakhmut to a stabilization center in the city. At the end of February 2023, hromadske was in Bakhmut again on the street where the stabilization center was in December, but the street was shelled and fired upon by russians. Today this street is already occupied.
During the time we did not see Sokoliuk, four members of the medevac unit were killed. And a month ago, one of the medics of the Brigade - Yara - died on the way to Bakhmut for evacuation. Even before, "Falcon" did not allow his subordinates to go to the city to pick up the wounded because they were "young" and "should live and see life." Now, he mostly carries out evacuations from the city himself, even though he is the head of the unit.
hromadske spent a day with Captain "Falcon". We went to Bakhmut twice and returned twice. We also found a fresh grave in one of the yards and several civilians still staying in the city - even though the front line is already there. Bakhmut itself looks like a charred match. And the roads leading to it are "cemeteries" of hit military hardware and cars.
During that day, "Falcon" evacuated ten wounded and sick soldiers out of the city, the road to which is a constant risk due to enemy shellings.
When we said goodbye, Sokol was called to Bakhmut again to pick up another wounded and one fallen.
___________________
Become a member of our RU-vid channel to get more:
/ @hromadske_ua
___________________
From the first minutes of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, hromadske has been working 24/7, thoroughly checking every news item in the information space. We film in hotspots and translate our content into Russian, English, and German. We record the crimes of the Russian occupation army to protect Ukraine and show the world the truth.
You can support us in our struggle:
UAN hromadske.ua/donate
USD cutt.ly/SGhSOGg
NFT vlt.fan/AtYg
hromadske’s website:
hromadske.ua/
Our Twitter in English: hromadske?s=21
Social Media (in Ukrainian):
Facebook hromadskeua
Twitter / hromadskeua
Telegram t.me/hromadske_ua
Instagram / hromadske.ua
ТікТок / hromadske
18 апр 2023
