NO ARCHIVE / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Lea DAUPLE / AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2024
TOPSHOT - -- AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2024 --
An injured Ukrainian soldier lies in a bed onboard a military evacuation train transporting Ukrainian servicemen wounded in frontline areas to hospitals, in an undisclosed location, on October 18, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.. The train evacuations in Ukraine began when the war did, in February 2022, reviving process used in World War II, and now several refitted trains take wounded troops from the front. Nearly three years after Russian forces invaded Ukraine, many medical facilities in war-battered eastern Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed, and those untouched are overcrowded. For Oleksandr, the military doctor overseeing the evacuation, there are clear benefits to rail: many people can be moved at once and its safer than transporting wounded soldiers by helicopter, given Russian superiority in Ukraine's airspace. But there are risks too, he said. "Our adversary in the war does not distinguish between what's medical and military, so we take certain security measures". (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP) / AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2024