Australian with Ukrainian Roots – Combat Medic with the 92nd Brigade

Max is an Australian of Ukrainian descent who came to Ukraine with his family for a holiday in 2021. Before that, he worked as a nurse in a hospital in Australia. When the full-scale invasion began, he decided to stay and use his medical experience to help Ukrainian servicemembers.

Today, Max is a combat medic and the head of a medical evacuation group in the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade named after Koshovyi Otaman Ivan Sirko. Over the years of his service, he has served in various parts of the eastern front, experienced the loss of fellow servicemembers, and repeatedly applied his medical skills to save lives.

This is his story — about the decision to stay, adapting to war, and work in which every life saved matters.

Where It All Began

Max’s family emigrated from Ukraine to Australia more than 20 years ago, when he was still a child. He spent practically his entire conscious life in Australia. However, as he says:

“You have some sort of magnetism toward where your roots are. So eventually my path led me here.”

In 2021, he came to Ukraine with his entire family for a holiday. It was supposed to be an ordinary family vacation to the region his family came from. But in 2022, when Max was due to return home, the full-scale war began:

“It was shocking. A lot of people were fleeing the country, and not many people knew what to do. Except, probably, some of the bravest men we had, who joined up straight away. Unfortunately, most of them are gone now.”

At the time, the family was in eastern Ukraine, in a region relatively close to the front line. The roads were blocked and the enemy was advancing. There were few options — either flee or stay. Max decided to stay:

“My personal choice was not just to stay put, but to do something — to contribute, to join the fight, to repel the Russians in the best way I could.”

First Experience in the Military

Before this, Max had never served in the military. When he went to the military recruitment office, he was asked about his education and professional experience:

“I told them that I had higher education from overseas, and they were very interested in that. So they assigned me to a medical position, where I treated the wounded and helped train new recruits.”

For someone without any military experience, the transition to real war was abrupt:

“You see these moments in movies, where people get shot, killed and thrown around. But when it comes to real life, you experience the shock from explosions, and there are people out there who want to kill you.”

However, the reality of combat gradually became more familiar to him. About a month after joining the military, Max already felt much more confident in his new environment:

“So it was a steep learning curve. But with a bit of humor and some really good mates, it became easier.”

The Brigade

Today, Max is a servicemember of the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade named after Koshovyi Otaman Ivan Sirko. He initially served as a combat medic and now leads a medical evacuation group. However, he did not join the 92nd Brigade immediately:

“I didn’t choose the 92nd — the 92nd chose me.”

At the time, Max was serving in another unit. A recruiter from the 92nd came there and asked about his experience. When Max said that he was a medic, the recruiter responded with surprise:

“What the hell are you doing here?”

About a week later, Max was already in the new unit. Two days later, he and his brothers-in-arms were shipped off to the Bakhmut area:

“That was my proper, proper journey on the front line.”

From Bakhmut to Zaporizhzhia

Max’s combat experience covers a significant part of the eastern front — essentially the entire Donetsk region, northern Kharkiv region, and the direction toward Zaporizhzhia.

During this time, Max also experienced what he describes as one of the most difficult lessons of war:

“I would say one of the biggest and most humbling moments I’ve experienced was when you go out on a combat mission and come back, and the bloke you slept and ate with — the guy who was in the cot next to you — is no longer there.

His clothing and his belongings are still there. But he’s not coming back. He was shot in the head. He was gone.”

He has lost several friends during his service:

“That’s probably one of the most memorable moments on the negative side.”

A Reason to Stay

At the same time, it is his medical work that allows Max to directly see the results of his service:

“On the positive side, one of the good things about my job is that I can actually make a difference when it comes to injured personnel”.

The experience he gained in civilian medicine became the foundation for his work as a combat medic. It was later complemented by the experience he gained directly on the battlefield.

One particular case has stayed with Max:

“It was a tension pneumothorax — basically, when air starts accumulating in the chest cavity and begins pressing on the lungs and the heart. It can kill you very quickly.

We didn’t have a needle or anything else to decompress him.

Then I noticed that I had a vacuum dressing in one of the boxes, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I had never tried it in that situation before.

The mechanism was similar, and eventually it worked really well. The guy survived.”

For Max, this is one example of how civilian medical experience gained long before the war can save a life on the front line:

“So I’m still here, still going.”

Learn more about the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade named after Koshovyi Otaman Ivan Sirko and join on its official website: https://recruiting-92.army/ 

Text: Dmytro Tolkachov

Video, Photos: Dmytro Tolkachov, Oleksandr Bekker

Editing: Oleksandr Bekker