Ukraine's secret weapon - the medics in the line of fire
In southern Ukraine, the city of Kherson has been liberated, but in the east, close to the Russian border, fighting still rages and casualties mount. In a trauma centre under daily Russian shelling, a dedicated team of medics - many of whom volunteered for service at the start of the war - are saving lives. The BBC spent almost a week with them.
Blood, iron, sweat and dirt are soaked into the walls and floors of the Ukrainian field hospital. No matter how hard the Ukrainian army medical staff scrub, a metallic smell haunts the place. It clings to the doctors' clothes and in the ambulances its presence is overpowering.
"Even when you wash away the blood, and sprinkle with peroxide, there is always this smell. You never forget it," says Valeria, 21, an anaesthetist's assistant.
The trauma centre has been set up in an abandoned building, where more than a dozen doctors and nurses work and live together under fire. The roar of outgoing artillery fire is constant. In the five days I spend with them, Russian bombs fall around their clinic almost daily, while Ukrainian dead and injured arrive at their door.
The Brigade - its full name can't be revealed for reasons of operational security - has already lost two medical stabilisation points to Russian fire, and five of their medics.
Before the war, Valeria worked in a hospital north of Kyiv. She is used to trauma, there is nothing harder than resuscitating a child who has died, she explained. Without a word to her family, she volunteered for military service, and has been saving lives in some of the most dangerous fronts since.
"I have the most amazing job in the world. I defend heroes," she says. "They defend us and I'm here to defend them - and not to let them die." As part of the anaesthetic team, she says she's there to ease the pain of those who are wounded.
Valeria is petite with a wide, ready smile. Over her scrubs she wears a leopard-print fleeced hooded top. Her sleeping bag is in the corner of one room. On the bare wooden floor, a cartoon panda mat, and Baby Yoda doll are at her bedside. An adopted kitten, Maryssia, keeps her company while she sleeps.
This article contains some upsetting descriptions
While every day is unpredictable, it begins with the same routine. At 09:00, the radio plays the Last Post and the Ukrainian national anthem. The team stops what they are doing and stands for a moment of remembrance for those lost in this war.
Valeria and the team spring to work when a badly injured soldier is carried into their emergency room. He groans in pain and cries out, "My arm, my arm." But his injuries are far more severe. He is semi-conscious but in a critical condition.
-sky news
