YAVORIV, Ukraine - Paratroopers with the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade visited Ukrainian wounded soldiers at the Main Military Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine May 13, 2015, in Kiev, Ukraine during a two-day visit to the U.S. Embassy.
The visit was part of a community outreach program as the paratroopers train soldiers from the Ukrainian national guard here as part of Fearless Guardian. Fearless Guardian is the name for the Congress-approved, Departments of State and Defense initiative under the Global Security Contingency Fund-Ukraine to train and equip the newly-formed Ukrainian national guard. The mission and the program of instruction come at the request of the Ukrainian government.
As a show of support for the soldiers of Ukraine, the paratroopers visited several Ukrainian soldiers wounded in the country's anti-terrorism operations in eastern Ukraine.
"The soldiers we visited were very supportive of our presence in Ukraine," said Capt. Kyle Robinson, a civil affairs officer with the 173rd Abn. Bde. "It gave us an extra sense of realism to the importance of Fearless Guardian to the sovereignty of Ukraine."
According to Robinson the visit is a step forward in the ongoing initiative to partner the paratroopers from the brigade with wounded soldiers of Ukraine during their time training in western Ukraine.
"I am reminded of the patriotism our Soldiers showed during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Sgt. 1st Class Jason Fisher, a civil affairs platoon sergeant with the 173rd Abn. Bde. "Even after being injured, the Ukrainian soldiers were eager to return to their comrades."
Just like in the U.S., military members visit wounded soldiers to remind them they are not forgotten by their comrades and their sacrifices are not in vain, said Fisher.
The paratroopers from 173rd Abn. Bde. are in Ukraine for the first of several planned rotations to train Ukraine's newly-formed national guard as part of Fearless Guardian, which is scheduled to last 6 months.
The paratroopers were also given a tour of the hospital facility and briefed on the hospital's 260 -year history.
"Our hospital has a longer history than the United States of America," said the director of personnel and hospital services Col. Perov Gennadiy. "We have been in continuous operations since day one."
The hospital complex is the oldest medical institution still operating in Ukraine, said Gennadiy.
The staff at the 1,100-patient-capacity medical facility treated more than 5,000 patients during the height of anti-terrorism operations, according to Lt. Col. Roman Kaschenko, a senior officer of the department of personnel at the hospital.
"We did more than 14,000 surgical operations in the last year," said Kaschenko. "80 percent of which were trauma related."
According to Kaschenko the hospital also treats a small civilian population who pay for their services, allowing the hospital to use the proceeds to build improvements and acquire new equipment.
Since the beginning of violence in eastern Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists, the hospital has seen a large increase in the amount of volunteers, both from professional medical personnel and average citizens, that dedicate themselves to helping the hospital treat wounded soldiers during Ukraine's time of crisis said Kaschenko.
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