June 2025 Update
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June 15
As many of you may recall, we recently lost our last ventilator due to its age and the unavailability of spare parts—a serious setback to our ability to provide critical care to the wounded.
But with a bit of luck and persistence, we’ve secured three Automedx SAVe II+ Simplified Automated Ventilators! These units were specifically designed for combat medics—easy to operate and highly reliable under the demanding conditions of field care.
We’re still awaiting the arrival of some additional equipment, after which everything will be shipped to our team in Ukraine
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June 6
Update from Ben Asack
*** CRITICAL PATIENTS. BROKEN VENTILATOR. WE NEED YOUR HELP ***
A few days ago, a guided aerial bomb struck close. The blast shook the basement, and the negative pressure of the blast wave sucked the curtains of the trauma rooms inward — as if the building itself had gasped.
Shortly thereafter, a strike from a Lancet drone impacted a couple hundred meters away.
It was clear that we were the target.
Our team — myself, “Smalls”, and “Magic Mike” — had no choice but to evacuate the stabilization point, along with two other brigades and volunteer medical groups.
But one brigade stood alone.
Then the call came in: an urgent request for MEDEVAC. Only one evacuation vehicle was left for the entire unit. We returned.
We’re here in partnership with MMRescue, continuing our stabilization work and evacuation of the wounded.
Things have escalated here severely in the past two weeks. rus$ian kamikaze drones such as FPVs, Molniyas, and Lancets are now inside the town on a daily and nightly basis - hunting for targets. Such drones account for the majority of the casualties we receive along this strip of the frontline.
Now that we’re firmly in “drone country”, we’ve had to change how we drive — constantly checking the skies and our rear-view mirrors. We now drive over 130 km/h whenever possible, to outrun the slower fiber-optic drones that our jammer won’t stop. The ru%sians are getting even more creative — even drone dropping the booby-trapped bodies of small animals on the roads. They’ve also been parking their drones along the roadside and waiting for a vehicle to attack.
And friends, an ambulance for them is a prime target.
Thanks to our donors, our drone jammer and detector have kept us safe.
But now, we face another urgent gap: our only ventilator is out of commission. It was decades old, and now it’s done. The parts to repair it are not even produced anymore. By now, we are very good at “MacGuyvering” our way with medical equipment and doing more with less - but we can’t here, friends.
Without a working ventilator, our ambulance cannot safely transport critical patients. A second ICU ambulance has been brought in temporarily by another organization, but it's not enough. We urgently need funding for a new, reliable ventilator to continue our mission. If you’re able to help in any way possible, here is the link to our website:
https://www.gdrt.org/donate
The war evolves. So do we. Thanks for standing with us.
