Mykolaiv. Heroes of the home front: the rescuers talked about the most difficult moments of work during the war

Their life is a daily risk: fires, accidents, accidents. And during the Great War, the scope of work expanded even more. At any time of the day or night, they must go to the place where a person is in danger and risk their lives to do everything to save them.

In the third edition of the series of reports «Heroes of the home front», NіkVestі will tell about the workers of the State Emergency Service in the Mykolaiv region — rescuers and pyrotechnicians.

From the beginning of the full-scale war until the liberation of Kherson, Mykolaiv was under daily shelling from the Russian army. A rescuer is the first person who gets into a burning room after the arrival of a rocket, where the wall, ceiling, and stairs can collapse at any moment. Despite the risks, they rescue victims by pulling them out from under the rubble. After all, a person's life depends on their speed and determination.

«The first call was so large-scale, it was a call to an object where several rockets had landed, there was great destruction and a large number of people under the rubble. We eliminated this emergency situation within a week or a half,» rescuer Stanislav Ustych tells how the day of February 24 passed for him.

Stanislav Ustych, lifeguard. Screenshot from NikVesta's video

He said that he literally sees in his dreams those who could not be saved.

«Some people were under such destruction that it took a long time to reach them and free them. It was after 2-3 days of work at this first object that the smell of people who died from the arrival left,» the man recalls.

The problem faced by Mykolaiv pyrotechnics during the full-scale war was the variety of ammunition used by the Russian army. As sapper Oleksandr Rak said, sometimes there are shells about which there is no information.

«Before the war, we mostly worked with shells from the Second World War. When we started working with new ammunition, some of them we had not even seen, there was no information about them at all. Not everyone will be able to do such work, it is necessary to live this work and constantly improve one's knowledge. On the one hand, it's interesting, and on the other, it's dangerous,» the man says.

Even experienced sappers cannot always protect themselves from undermining. Oleksandr recalls how he managed to escape despite the fact that the projectile detonated next to him.

«On March 30, we went to the place where the MPL (multiple rocket launcher — note) was covered. The first day we marked the ammunition, the next day we came to detonate it. I had already planted explosives to detonate the ammunition, apparently the time to eliminate it had passed and it detonated on its own. I was lucky and it detonated before I planted the explosives. Well done guys, they reacted quickly, my partner ran up, pulled me away from the explosion site, provided first aid, applied a tourniquet. Then the medics came and took me to the hospital. A few fragments remained, but everything is fine,» recalls the pyrotechnician.

To the question about what all rescuers dream of, they answer: «the end of war and peace». They all want to finally rest.

«My dream at the moment is the end of the war, victory, expelling the occupier from our territory, peace and just a normal rest. Not this suspended state, when you do not understand whether you will wake up tomorrow or not,» says Stanislav Ustych.

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Heroes of the home front: how Mykolaivvodokanal employees tried to restore water supply at the cost of their lives

Heroes of the home front: «ambulance» medics told how they worked in Mykolaiv under fire

The project was handled by Kseniia Stuzhuk, Anton Shatura, Serhii Yefimov

Text: Olena Kozubovska