“Soldiers shot back at FPV with guns, driver was speeding”: Ukrainian medic on Chasiv Yar evacuation

She revealed this on Espreso.

"Extremely difficult situation overall. Chasiv Yar is fully under our control today. We're still behind the canal; they (Russian troops - ed.) can't cross it, but evacuations and position changes are very challenging. Russian FPV drones and their drops are significant issues. We're holding our positions with our last ounce of strength. Ukrainian units are still holding on. As a medic, I deeply appreciate these guys for their resilience," Lisitsyna emphasized.

According to her, to change the situation, they needed to dig in behind the Siverskyi Donets - Donbas canal much earlier, cross 20-30 meters, and eliminate Russian troops from there, avoiding Ukrainian losses in uncomfortable positions.

"Even now, we're practically on the same line, and they can't cross the canal. There should've been a defense line further behind the canal, on fully controlled territory, preventing their advance and holding them back. Positions are close: here is ours, next to it is theirs. It's extremely tough to get out because the enemy is on the right and left, with artillery almost constantly active. They're hitting our trenches with guided bombs, ATGMs, and 120mm mortars, we've grown accustomed to this," she stressed.

Ukrainian fighters use drones to drop food, water, ammo, and medicine to their comrades' positions due to the extreme difficulty of reaching them.

"They're already developing gangrene, have pneumonia; we give them antibiotics but can't get them out. We don't understand why we hold those 100 meters and suffer losses. We can't evacuate the dead easily, and evacuating the injured is extremely hard. If evacuation took 1.5 hours before and seemed slow (I've done 40-minute evacuations with six people), now it takes 12 hours to two or three days, only possible with armored vehicles. Pickups can't reach our position due to anti-personnel mines. On foot, you'll get blown up; pickups get targeted. Our last evacuation: our armored vehicle was hit, but kudos to our soldiers — they shot the FPV drone with a machine gun, and the driver sped away, enabling us to evacuate the injured. This is how evacuation goes," Lisitsyna explained.

• Ukraine's Ministry of Defense has approved the Ukrainian-made Kozak-5MED armored medical vehicle for use by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, designed for evacuating the wounded.