Ukraine war: Mariupol doctor describes horror of working in city besieged by Russians

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At the beginning of this year, Sergey Chornobrivetz was studying to become a doctor and planning his future.

Just a month later, the fifth-year medical student was dodging Russian bombs and trying to save the lives of children in the middle of a brutal medieval siege that saw him trapped under constant bombardment for 22 days.

Having been working in emergency medical care in Mariupol since 2019, Mr Chornobrivetz had seen some gruesome accidents. But nothing had prepared him for a full-blown war.

As Russian shells rained down over the besieged port city, the 24-year-old medic was determined to save lives, even if it meant risking his own.

“I couldn’t leave all these people, and my city”, Mr Chornobrivetz told The Telegraph.

“Everything, everywhere, was destroyed.

“There were mini cemeteries in yards and near houses. There were parts of human bodies lying on streets and debris and glass everywhere.”

Speaking from his latest place of work in Zaporizhzhia, Mr Chornobrivetz explained that when the war began, he said he would go anywhere a medic was required. On one occasion, not far from his emergency room, a man had been wounded from artillery shelling.

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