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From Our Own Correspondent

Ukraine's Battlefield Doctors

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2022

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The task of a surgeon is not an easy one at the best of times, but some in Ukraine are having learn how to carry out operations in the midst of a battlefield. Many have been taught how to do this by the British surgeon, David Nott, who has worked in conflict zones around the globe. Wyre Davies joined one of his classes. Russia’s attack on Ukraine has left other countries wondering if they might be next. Fourteen countries have land borders with Russia, and eight of these were once part of the old Soviet Union, which Vladimir Putin at times seems keen to resurrect. Zeinab Badawi has been to Georgia, where she says many feel like they are now right on the front line. We owe the planet’s peat bogs a debt of gratitude, as they effectively suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, and store it underground. Andrew Harding travelled deep into the Republic of Congo, to see a vast area of peat the size of England, which is currently under threat. The Yazidi people of northern Iraq suffered horrific atrocities at the hands of the group which calls itself Islamic State. IS has now been driven out of the Yazidi homeland, Mount Sinjar, but the Yazidi people now find themselves caught up in their country's fractious politics, with different groups fighting for their loyalty, and with guns as well as persuasion. Shelly Kittleson learns how this has left communities - and families - bitterly divided. Banks want your custom., or at least, you might think so, given the number of adverts suggesting they offering the most favourable interest rates, and perhaps the broadest smile on the faces of their staff. However, when Alba Arikha recently had to open a bank account in Greece, she found herself having to fight hard just to give them her money

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts

0:05.0

Today, training the doctors who carry out battlefield surgery in Ukraine.

0:11.0

How nervous should Georgians be about their neighbour to the North, Russia?

0:16.0

Our correspondent travels into the heart of the Congo to see a pit bog the size of England.

0:22.0

We hear about the Yazidi people now caught up in Iraq's fractious contest for par

0:28.0

and opening a bank account in Greece, not as simple as you might think.

0:34.0

First, the task of a surgeon is not an easy one at the best of times.

0:38.0

It requires a deep and detailed knowledge of human anatomy, of course,

0:42.0

but also the physical prowess of a steady hand, one that can guide a knife with delicate precision.

0:48.0

So try if you can to imagine what it's like to perform an emergency operation

0:54.0

in the midst of a battlefield where the power supply might fail at any time,

0:59.0

where the very building you're working in may be under attack.

1:03.0

David Not has done precisely that, working as a doctor in conflict zones around the globe.

1:10.0

Now he's trying to teach what he's learned to surgeons working in Ukraine.

1:15.0

We're at Davis joined one of his classes.

1:18.0

Looking tired and sleep deprived, Alexander Sokolenko sits at the back of the classroom,

1:24.0

but he's still studiously paying attention.

1:27.0

He's travelled a long way to be here and has momentarily left important work behind.

1:32.0

Alexander is a civilian doctor, a recently qualified surgeon,

1:36.0

but his green military style clothing reflects the nature of his most recent assignment,

1:42.0

treating victims of war, military and civilian on Ukraine's eastern front.

1:47.0

It's thought that Ukraine may be losing as many as 200 troops a day in intense fighting in the Donbass region,

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