On Ukraine's frontlines, Polish paramedic tends to wounded soldiers

Polish paramedic Damian Duda looks on as he speaks to Reuters reporter during an interview in Warsaw, Poland January 20, 2023. REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki

WARSAW (Reuters) - Damian Duda, a Polish academic and media worker, was only 25 when he first went to Ukraine as a volunteer combat paramedic in 2014, work he describes as his "private crusade".

Almost 10 years on, when Russian bombs started falling over Ukrainian cities at the start of its invasion, he had built up a team of six people with experience on battlefields as far afield as Iraq and Syria.