A Russian soldier turned into a “human bomb” when a grenade fired by Ukrainian troops pierced his chest and lodged in him but did not explode.
To remove the foreign object, surgeons – clad in body armor – operated on the man to remove the grenade, knowing it could explode at any moment.
Against all odds, medics managed to remove the explosives without detonating them – saving the Russian’s life – and giving Vladimir Putin’s military a rare reason to celebrate amid mounting embarrassment of setbacks.
Junior Sergeant Nikolay Easterko (right), 41, was turned into a “human bomb” when a grenade fired by Ukrainian troops pierced and lodged in his chest but did not explode. Left: An X-ray of Easterko’s chest shows the grenade lodged in him
The embedded explosives came from a Ukrainian attack using an AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher (shown, file photo), reports said.
Junior Sergeant Nikolay Easterko, 41, was hit by a Ukrainian projectile fired from an automatic grenade launcher while fighting for the Russian presidential forces.
The ammunition pierced his ribs, damaged a lung and lodged near his spine between the aorta and the inferior vena cava, the body’s largest artery.
X-rays from the emergency room showed the deadly explosive deep in the man’s chest. But despite the devastating wound, he did not die on impact.
Easterko was taken to a medical facility where the risk of explosion was rated “extremely high.” However, the lack of surgery put the man at risk of bleeding.
The Russian soldier is said to have initially resisted surgery, saying he “didn’t want the doctors to suffer because the ammunition could have exploded.”
But despite the risk, military and civilian doctors wore body armor to protect themselves from a possible explosion — which would likely kill everyone in the vicinity — and operated on the soldier anyway.
Military and civilian medics wore body armor to protect themselves from a possible explosion – which would likely kill everyone in the area – and operated on the soldier
Against all odds, medical workers managed to successfully extract the explosives without detonating them – saving the Russian’s life – and giving Vladimir Putin’s military a rare reason to celebrate amid mounting embarrassment of setbacks .
In the photo: A doctor shows X-rays of Easterko’s chest, with the grenade inside
Lt. Col. Stationed at the Mandryk Central Military Hospital in Moscow, Kim traveled with his team to Belgorod to operate on the wounded Russian fighter.
“The ammunition was between the aorta and the inferior vena cava,” Kim said. “You don’t get one every day… [explosive] of a person and in a place where movement to the right or left could lead to the death of the patient. When the ammunition landed in a bucket of sand, everyone exhaled, laughed and laughed.’
A second operating room and a full team of surgeons stood by should the munitions detonate during the “unique operation,” reports said.
The embedded explosives came from a Ukrainian attack using an AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher, reports said.
Lt.-Col. Kim said they “didn’t know if the ammunition had exploded” during their operation. This was not the case, so there was an acute danger.
After the operation, Easterko said he had been hit by the shell two weeks earlier while fighting with Ukrainian soldiers. He claimed his unit was tasked with taking a forest belt, but did not say where in the country they were fighting.
“I didn’t understand what happened. There was a smack against the edge of the armor and that was it. I didn’t lose consciousness – I just kept moving.”
Then “his comrades jumped up and tied me up,” he said.
Easterko survived the operation. He later said he was hit by the shell while his unit was struggling to take over a wooded area in Ukraine, but did not disclose where
“Now you see me sitting in front of you,” adds the second sergeant. “My thanks go to the surgeon Dmitri Kim and I will be grateful to him for the rest of my life.”
Russian soldiers have been on Ukrainian soil since 2014 and have been involved in a full-scale invasion of the country since February 24, 2022 – when Putin ordered his troops to attack the country and overthrow the government in Kiev.
But after Russia’s advance on the capital was dramatically halted in the early stages of the war, Kiev’s forces staged a spectacular defense of their land, with Moscow’s forces pushing ever further east and back towards Russia’s borders.
Tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed since the invasion was ordered, as a result of several Russian military failures, in which the Kremlin underestimated the strength of Ukraine and Kiev’s support of its allies.
However, as Ukraine reclaimed land, horrific cases of war crimes by Russian soldiers came to light.
The Russian Defense Ministry, which has hailed the medical operation as a success, took the opportunity to share rare good news at a time when military operations in Moscow continue to suffer major setbacks amid Putin’s ongoing incursion.
“The military doctors, together with their civilian colleagues, put on bulletproof vests under their doctor’s coats and performed this extremely complicated operation,” the Russian ministry said in a statement.
Easterko’s life-saving operation may have been all the Russian military could celebrate this week. Ukrainian officials said Friday that Ukrainian flags appeared “en masse and everywhere” in the wake of Russia’s withdrawal from the southern Kherson region.
Easterko’s life-saving operation may have been all the Russian military could celebrate this week. Ukrainian officials said Friday that Ukrainian flags appeared “en masse and everywhere” in the wake of Russia’s withdrawal from the southern Kherson region.
“Kherson is returning to Ukrainian control and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are entering the city,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on social media.
“The retreat routes of the Russian invaders are under fire control of the Ukrainian army. Any attempt to oppose the armed forces of Ukraine will be stopped.”
Kherson was one of four regions in Ukraine annexed by Putin in September.
The fall of the city would once again humiliate Moscow after a series of battlefield defeats and other setbacks.
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