Volunteer doctors from Kyiv are bringing medical care to frontline towns and villages in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region and beyond that otherwise lack quality health-care options due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its third year.
The volunteers are part of the Frida Mission, a Ukrainian-Israeli organization that helps support people in need in war-torn parts of the country.
Volunteers say that in most settlements, people avoid going to the doctor because they are not used to asking for help, and even if they did, the treatment options are extremely limited.
On this stop, the medical professionals are working primarily with elderly residents in Zaporizhzhya, a region that Russian forces continue to try to capture. For many of the area's elderly residents, the volunteers provide a lifeline of vital treatment.
Residents come for a variety of treatments. There is a surgeon, an oncologist, a gynecologist, and an endocrinologist with equipment that is otherwise unavailable in the area.
New arrivals are registered and first receive a psychological screening to better understand the patients' mental health. Many locals struggle with constant stress and anxiety from the war and ongoing Russian attacks.
After finishing work in Zaporizhzhya, the Frida Mission will travel to even riskier areas closer to heavy fighting along the front line, where they say people lack access to even basic medicine.
