Ukraine’s front line medics reveal the toll of gruelling counteroffensive

Published

2 years ago

July 8, 2023

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In the woods, hidden from enemy drones, ambulances wait. Just the sound of birds and the distant rumble of artillery. Medics sit killing time. But never for long, as the casualties start coming.

Sky News had rare access to a field hospital behind Ukraine‘s front line. What we witnessed among the doctors and ambulance crews gave clues about the state of the war.

Zelenskyy visits ‘free island’ on war’s 500th day – live updates

It is not going as well as Ukraine had hoped. Its president said as much this week. Ukraine’s counteroffensive is becoming bogged down, stalling in the face of a well dug in enemy and huge numbers of mines.

“Everything here is mined,” Eugen, a doctor, told us.

“Most of these injuries are caused by artillery shelling, strikes and minefields our guys have to walk through.”

The counteroffensive started using NATO supplied armour, we were told. But anti-tank mines have blocked their advance, corroborating what British intelligence reported this week.

Fighting’s bloody toll

Now the fighting is mostly on foot. Infantry warfare, going trench to trench, and through fields thick with mines.

“When the infantry advances, it’s completely different,” said Eugen. “They walk on the ground with their feet where there are mines, and we get a lot of patients with amputations and with shrapnel injuries.”

That kind of fighting exacts a bloody toll. A soldier arrived from the front, his back peppered with shrapnel. We watched doctors pluck out pieces the size of golf balls.

Another had taken a hit from a mortar.

Doctors worked with infinite care to save his ligaments in an injury deep into his leg. The patient was a medic himself.

Vasyl told us he had only been on the front three days when the Russians attacked.

“It was a mortar attack,” he said. “We had just arrived and had to go to our position. We’re an assault brigade.

“We were supposed to go to the position, and drones started flying and bombing us.”

What was he thinking, we asked.

“That I wanted to get back home. To do my job and go back home.”

Then a red case arrived, as they call a patient with life-threatening injuries. Caught in an explosion, Anatoly was badly burned over half of his body.

“The condition of the patient is serious,” the doctor told us, “taking into account thermal burns – head, upper limbs, back completely, lower limbs. Well, the condition is critical.”

Will he be OK, we asked?

“Well, we always hope.”

He needed urgent intervention. After the vital work of stabilising him, he was transferred to an ambulance.

Aid group providing ambulances ‘needs more support’

The dangerous work of racing soldiers from behind the front line to military hospitals is not done by the army. A fleet of ambulances run by the aid organisation MOAS fills the role.

In a previous life it rescued refugees at sea in the Mediterranean and Aegean but has now switched fully to Ukraine.

Its ambulances are fast and small, ideal for dodging the dangers of war, customised with life-saving equipment.

Its founder is American entrepreneur and humanitarian Chris Catrambone, who has sunk millions of dollars of his own money into its work and persuaded others like him to follow. MOAS has stayed low profile during this conflict, but need more support now and gave Sky News exclusive access to its work.

Mr Catrambone said: “As the war goes on and on the needs are going to become more and more and that means qualified medical personnel equipment and things are wearing out.

“It’s moving. Things are needed to keep up the pace.”

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The work is perilous but essential. The MOAS ambulance carrying Anatoly finally reaches its destination, a military hospital with a specialist burns unit. It gives him the best chances of survival, we are told.

Ukraine does not reveal casualty figures and access to the front line is tightly restricted. But in a day’s filming behind the lines, we had a sense of what its soldiers are going through.

What is clear is the counteroffensive is not sweeping through Russian lines. It is heavy going.

A breakthrough cannot be taken for granted. What seems certain is a long hot summer of nasty warfare in trenches and minefields.

World

‘Priceless’ jewellery stolen from Louvre museum in Paris – as authorities reveal details of daring raid

Published

6 hours ago

October 19, 2025

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'Priceless' jewellery stolen from Louvre museum in Paris - as authorities reveal details of daring raid

“Priceless” jewellery has been stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris – as authorities revealed details of the daring raid that has forced the closure of the world famous landmark.

The museum, which is the world’s most popular, drawing up to 30,000 visitors a day, said on X it was closing for “exceptional reasons” on Sunday.

In a separate post, culture minister Rachida Dati said there had been a robbery and she was on site alongside museum and police teams.

French interior minister Laurent Nunez said the “major robbery” involved intruders entering the museum via a basket lift using a platform mounted on a lorry.

“They broke a window and went towards several display cases where they stole jewellery,” he added.

“These are jewels that have genuine heritage value and are, in fact, priceless.”

Mr Nunez told France Inter radio the robbery lasted seven minutes, while the interior ministry said the criminals fled on two motorbikes. No injuries have been reported.

The robbers were well-prepared, Mr Nunez said, and “had done scouting”, cutting window panes “with a disc cutter” before escaping “on a TMAX” (a type of Yamaha maxi-scooter).

The robbery took place between 9.30 and 9.40am (8.30-8.40am UK time), the French government said in a statement, adding an investigation has begun, forensic work was under way and “a detailed list of the stolen items is being compiled”.

Hooded criminals carrying “small chainsaws” entered the building from the River Seine side, where construction work is taking place, French daily newspaper, Le Parisien, said, quoting preliminary findings from the police investigation.

Intruders went to the Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo Gallery), home to a selection of the French Crown Jewels, the ministry said.

The robbers escaped with nine pieces of jewellery from Napoleon and the Empress’s collection.

A necklace, a brooch, a tiara, were among the items taken from the Napoleon and French Sovereigns display cases. A third robber stayed outside, Le Parisien said.

One of the stolen gems was later found broken outside the museum, according to the paper, which said it was believed to be Empress Eugenie’s crown.

Police sealed off the museum and evacuated visitors. New arrivals were turned away and nearby streets were closed, according to the interior ministry.

Social media users posted pictures and videos from in and outside the building, with one people leaving in what the user described as “total panic”.

On person on X said they were there and reported a confused-sounding scene of police “running near pyramid and trying to enter the Louvre from glass side doors but they were locked and they could not enter”.

“Everyone inside was running and banging on glass doors to get out, but could not open. Police and military police arrived,” they added.

It’s not the first time the museum, one of the world’s most famous and a French national landmark, has been targeted by thieves.

In 1911, the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by a former worker who hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat.

It was recovered two years later in Florence – an episode that helped make Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait the world’s best-known artwork.

In 1983, two Renaissance-era pieces of armour were stolen and only recovered nearly four decades later.

The museum’s collection also bears the legacy of Napoleonic-era looting, containing 33,000 works of art, including antiquities, sculptures and paintings.

In addition to the Mona Lisa, its star attractions feature the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

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World

Hamas hands over bodies of two more hostages, Israel confirms

Published

15 hours ago

October 19, 2025

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Hamas hands over bodies of two more hostages, Israel confirms

Israel has received the bodies of two more hostages from the Red Cross, the Israeli prime minister’s office has confirmed.

Shortly after 10pm UK time on Saturday, Israel’s military said Hamas handed over “two coffins of deceased hostages”.

There has been no identification of the bodies yet.

The news came as tensions were beginning to rise over the closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office had said earlier on Saturday evening that it would stay closed “until further notice” – as the deadline for Hamas to return the bodies of the hostages had passed with no confirmation.

Mr Netanyahu had warned that its reopening would depend on how Hamas fulfilled its role in returning the remains of all 28 dead hostages.

The handover brings the count of returned bodies to 12 hostages, up from 10, according to Israel’s tally. Another 16 deceased hostages would then still have to be returned.

All 28 were supposed to have been handed over by last Monday.

The handover of remains is among key points – along with aid deliveries into Gaza and the devastated territory’s future – in the ceasefire process meant to end two years of war.

Israel’s foreign ministry had originally said the Rafah crossing would likely reopen on Sunday – another step in the fragile ceasefire. This has now been revised to being closed “until further notice”.

A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Gazans to seek medical treatment, travel internationally or visit family in Egypt, which is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.

It is unclear who will operate the crossing’s heavily damaged Gaza side once the war ends.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s ruins were being scoured for the dead, over a week into a ceasefire. Newly recovered bodies brought the Palestinian toll above 68,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. But the ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

Famine declared

Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack on southern Israel that sparked the war on October 7 2023.

Gaza’s more than two million people are hoping the ceasefire will bring relief from the humanitarian disaster caused by Israel’s offensive. Throughout the war, Israel restricted aid entry to Gaza – sometimes halting it altogether.

Famine was declared in Gaza City, and the UN says it has verified more than 400 people who died of malnutrition-related causes, including more than 100 children.

Officials in Israel say they have let in enough food, accusing Hamas of stealing much of it. The UN and other aid agencies deny this claim.

World

Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes ‘Putin is afraid’ that Donald Trump could still supply Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles

Published

1 day ago

October 18, 2025

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes 'Putin is afraid' that Donald Trump could still supply Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not ruled out the possibility that he can secure long-range Tomahawk missiles from the US, adding that he believes “Putin is afraid” of the consequences.

In an exclusive interview with NBC News’s Meet the Press, Ukraine’s president discussed some of the details of his two-hour meeting with Donald Trump on Friday, including his desire for the weapons after three years of war with Russia.

“It’s good that President Trump didn’t say ‘no’, but for today, didn’t say ‘yes’,” he said about the supply of the missiles, as part of a discussion which will air on Sunday.

Ukraine war latest: Zelenskyy proposes ‘drone for Tomahawk’

He admitted the US president was concerned about a potential escalation with Russia, but Mr Zelenskyy told NBC, Sky News’s US partner, that the weapons are a genuine concern for Vladimir Putin.

“I think that Putin [is] afraid that United States will deliver us Tomahawks. And I think that he [is] really afraid that we will use them,” he said.

The weapons have a significantly longer range than any other missiles in Ukraine’s armoury and have the potential to be a game-changer in the war against Russia.

While Mr Trump did not rule out providing the Tomahawk missiles, he appeared cool to the prospect as he looked ahead to a meeting with the Russian president in Hungary in the coming weeks.

‘US doesn’t want escalation’

Following the meeting with Mr Trump, who held a phone call with Mr Putin on Thursday, Mr Zelenskyy told reporters: “We spoke about long-range (missiles) of course. And I do not want to make statements about it.”

But he added: “We don’t speak about it because… United States doesn’t want this escalation”.

Later in a post on X, Mr Zelenskyy said he was counting on President Trump to “bring this war closer to an end”.

“We discussed all key issues – our positions on the battlefield, long-range capabilities and air defence, and, of course, diplomatic prospects,” he said.

“Russia must end the aggression it started and continues to deliberately prolong. We count on the United States’ pressure.”

In a roundtable with journalists following the meeting, Mr Trump confirmed that hitting targets deep inside Russian territory would be an “escalation”.

He also said he was hesitant to tap into the US’ supply of Tomahawks, saying: “I have an obligation also to make sure that we’re completely stocked up as a country, because you never know what’s going to happen in war and peace.

“We’d much rather have them not need Tomahawks. We’d much rather have the war be over to be honest.”

Analysis: Is Trump being ‘played’ by Putin?

Before Donald Trump met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he hosted one of his favourite singers, Andrea Bocelli, in the Oval Office.

The Italian tenor serenaded him with the signature track Time To Say Goodbye, a song about hope and new beginnings.

But the next event on his agenda suggested antipathy between Trump and the Ukrainian president are firmly lodged in the past.

On the key issue of whether Vladimir Putin actually wants peace, the pair continue to fundamentally disagree.

Trump repeated several times his belief that Putin is committed to ending the war, which may come as a surprise to the people of eastern Ukraine, being pummeled by an expanded Russian offensive in the past few months.

Trump also spoke about “bad blood on both sides”, again inferring equal blame on Zelenskyy, whose sovereign nation was invaded, and Putin, who is doing the invading.

It’s in Putin’s gift to stop the fighting immediately, but that was glossed over.