Russia Killed Them: Mariupol Doctors Who Saved People Under Fire at the Cost of Their Own Lives

By the decree of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Order of Merit of the Third Degree was posthumously awarded to Mariupol doctors who saved civilians from Russian shelling at the cost of their own lives.

These are Serhiy Vlasyuk, Andriy Hnatyuk and Anatoliy Kazantsev. Their story is told by «Ukrainian Pravda. Life» together with the Ministry of Health.

Despite the fighting, doctors were constantly at work and helping patients.

Anatoliy Kazantsev was the head of the children's infectious diseases department. In mid-March, the Russian occupiers once again shelled the city and a medical facility, in particular. As a result of one of the shellings, a 63-year-old doctor, who devoted his entire life to medicine, died. This happened despite the efforts of colleagues to reanimate him. He was buried directly in the hospital yard.

Anatoliy Kazantsev

Around the same time, Andriy Hnatyuk, who worked as the head of the therapeutic department, died. According to preliminary information, a well-known doctor in the city went for water for the institution but did not return. The doctor was later found shot in the car. He was identified by documents.

Andriy Hnatyuk

In early April, Serhiy Vlasyuk, a doctor at the emergency department, was killed in the shelling. A fragment of the projectile hit him in the chest. The doctor died on the spot.

Serhiy Vlasyuk

How many medics died or went missing in the destroyed Mariupol and in Donetsk oblast in general remains to be determined.