Ukrainian fighters airlifted to Germany
The German Air Force has airlifted 20 injured Ukrainian fighters.
A German Air Force A310 plane touched down at Tegel Airport (Berlin) at around 16:00 hrs on 2 September with 20 wounded Ukrainian fighters. The injured were described by the German military as members of the Ukrainian armed forces who had been taking part in ‘anti-terrorism operations’ in Eastern Ukraine. Col Dr Axel Höpner, the head of the medical team responsible for the flight from Kiev, praised the co-operation between the Ukrainian armed forces medical service and the German embassy. He added: “I love it when a plan comes together.”
The patients had suffered a ‘full range of trauma’, said Höpner, including abdominal and gunshot wounds. Col Dr Gerhard Hölldobler added: “All patients show extensive bullet and shrapnel wounds and soft tissue trauma of the abdomen and limbs.”
Five patients were taken from Berlin Airport to Berlin Military Hospital before the plane flew on to Hamburg to offload six patients, and then on to Koblenz, where five of the wounded were taken to Koblenz Central Military Hospital. The remaining four patients were flown to Ulm onboard a C-160 transport plane. They are expected to spend the next three months in Germany.
In preparation for the flight, a four-strong team of German military doctors flew to Kiev on 29 August, following a commitment to provide support made by Chancellor Angela Merkel during a state visit to Ukraine a week earlier. The doctors worked in concert with the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine to identify those patients that would most benefit from the care available in Germany, in particular those with complex injuries that would require extensive rehabilitation. Höpner explained: “The Ukrainian doctors have good skills and all the patients we have brought to Germany could also, in principle, be treated in the Ukraine, but the Ukrainian system is now reaching its limits.”
Visiting the Kiev Military Hospital was a moving experience for the German medics, said Höpner, who commented on the contrast between the peaceful atmosphere in the streets of Kiev and the numbers of wounded in the hospital.