“White Angels”: a documentary about those who risk their own lives to save others
“White angel” - during the full-scale invasion of Russia, this phrase is associated by many with the rescue of people on the front line. “White Angels” is the name of police units that evacuate people from frontline settlements. In particular, they work in Kurakhove Donetsk region. It was about these heroes that journalists filmed the documentary project “Angels of Kurakhov”.
Police detachments working in hell itself. They go under bullets and into zones of constant shelling, and they do everything possible and impossible so that life conquers death.
“At the beginning of the war, it was an initiative. We were guided by a clear priority: if we understand that people are affected, then we will definitely leave. Now this is the official level, there is an algorithm of actions of each group. But the war continues. Shelling is denser. We work there, where no one works,” says the head of the police department Artem Shchus.
Still, many people in Ukraine do not understand what it is when there is no emergency medical care, no emergency responders, no doctors. In those regions of Donetsk region there are groups of “White Angels”. They deliver humanitarian aid, take people out, rescue wounded civilians.
“You know, superhumans have some superpowers, here I met people who actually have it. Not that there are superpowers, but they just have superhearts. Many journalists and people ask to tell about this project “White Angel”, I say, this is not a project, it is a life story,” says Oleksandra Gavrilko, head of the communication department of the GUNP in Donetsk region.
The police themselves from the evacuation team say that they have already lost their medicine, how many people, children, helped the wounded and brought medicine and humanitarian aid.
Five crews of the “White Angel” police work in the “hottest” settlements of Donetsk region. Under incessant shelling, police rescue people across the front line.
To date, the “White Angels” have evacuated about 6,000 people, 574 of them children. They provided medical assistance to almost 300 wounded and took them to the hospital. The bodies of 89 dead were transported so that relatives could bury them.
In addition, the White Angels delivered and hand-shipped a record amount of humanitarian aid delivered by authorities and charities. Only food sets were brought by the police about 300 tons. In addition to food, these are generators, sleeping bags, gas vodkas and cylinders to them, building materials for the restoration of housing, etc. Residents of 18 settlements survive thanks to these supplies.
“White Angels” - universal employees who sometimes have to get people out of the rubble, and extinguish fires. They also record the consequences of Russian war crimes for the use of this evidence in international courts.
Therefore, the groups are equipped accordingly. They have armored vehicles adapted for the transportation of seriously injured and low-mobility people, medical backpacks, carriers, a set of tools, spare wheels, a fire extinguisher, means of communication. Protective kits - for your own safety, as well as special children's helmets and body armor.
See how it happens live in the documentary:
Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
