海角大神

For the Ukrainian firefighter near the war鈥檚 front line with Russia, the work is never done. This day showed why.

After he ended a long shift putting out flames at 8:30 a.m., he did not go home. Instead he changed clothes, pulling on a uniform labeled 鈥淯krainian Rescuer,鈥� before jumping into his car and racing toward the front to evacuate two civilians as incoming artillery fire engulfed their village.

鈥淚t was a heavy situation today. I had to evacuate people under shell fire,鈥� says Ivan Subotin, a well-known local fireman and founder of a volunteer rescue organization, started in 2020, called Search Donbas.

Russian advances along this southeastern corner of the front line 鈥撀燼ccompanied by an apparent Russian strategy of reducing to rubble villages and towns before seizing them 鈥� mean that Mr. Subotin鈥檚 workload increases by the day.

鈥淚 have been through a huge number of evacuations,鈥� says Mr. Subotin, who the day before was busy putting out brush fires sparked by extreme heat in Myrnohrad, a coal mining town in eastern Ukraine.

鈥淥f course, some people evacuate with good advance time, get their things, and it is more orderly,鈥� says Mr. Subotin. 鈥淏ut there are also those who just leave under shelling.

鈥淲e pick them up; you see them stinking, sweating after spending a few weeks in a cellar; they haven鈥檛 seen daylight for some time, and have just one plastic bag [of belongings] left,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen you take them to a city with electricity and water, they are shocked.鈥�

The situation was tranquil a few months ago during initial evacuations, he says, 鈥渂ut now people are panicking and did not expect the front line to move [toward them] so quickly. There are Russian drones everywhere; people are running around with their eyes wide open.

鈥淭he war has become difficult; I don鈥檛 have a drone-jamming antenna,鈥� Mr. Subotin says. 鈥淓ven I am scared. The Russians are targeting every car.鈥�

The charity that Mr. Subotin founded with three friends has expanded into a 50-person-strong organization. Volunteers don鈥檛 stop at rescuing people. On one memorable occasion they saved eight cows, an accomplishment that required walking 12 miles to safety under extremely hazardous conditions.

But why take such risks, even if to save the lives of your fellow citizens? For Mr. Subotin, the answer is about not just helping out, but also providing a ray of hope to Ukrainians after 2 1/2 years of devastating conflict since Russia鈥檚 2022 invasion.

鈥淭his is important, that you are helping people believe in something good again,鈥� he says.

In July that ethos earned him his seventh award of official recognition, in the form of a medal with a white cross 鈥� a Cross of Civic Merit. It was given to him by the military administration of Pokrovsk 鈥� the city just west of Myrnohrad 鈥� which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says has become the primary target of Russia鈥檚 summer offensive.

As the Russians advance on this front, Mr. Subotin has told people to evacuate as soon as they can, especially if they have children, who can be very easily traumatized by a rushed evacuation, he says. But many remain reluctant.

鈥淎 lot of people say, 鈥業 will just wait this out.鈥� I hear the same thing everywhere; then when it gets bad, they panic,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 tell them it is stupid to 鈥榳ait this out鈥�; what does that even mean?鈥�

Those rescued are most often grateful, though some act as though they are entitled to evacuation, no matter the risks to volunteer rescuers, says Mr. Subotin. Donations have dropped off somewhat, he adds, 鈥渂ecause people have less, and the war has dragged on,鈥� but Search Donbas has a high level of public trust and a broad contributor base.

Indeed, Mr. Subotin鈥檚 local reputation is such that, when the firefighter was putting out the brush fire, a local pastor, Oleksandr Radin, who was helping put out the flames, asked him, 鈥淒o you know Ivan Subotin?鈥�

Mr. Radin says he was pleasantly surprised to meet him for the first time, amid the swirl of smoke and ash from the fire.

鈥淗e鈥檚 a great man,鈥� he says.

Likewise, one member of Mr. Radin鈥檚 church, military chaplain Vasyl Kovalov, recalled with gratitude how Mr. Subotin had put out a fire in his house just a month after the Russian invasion.

But is the firefighting rescuer optimistic about the state of the war in Ukraine?

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to answer this question,鈥� Mr. Subotin聽says. 鈥淥ne day you wake up and you are full of energy; you know you will evacuate some people. But then you come to those people and see the whole village is on fire, everything is burning, people are in misery, they are traumatized, and you just think, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 going to happen to my house?鈥�

鈥淵ou come back home after such an evacuation, [and] you have sediment in your heart and your soul, and it pushes you down. And you have only one question: 鈥榃hat鈥檚 going to happen next? What鈥檚 in the future?鈥欌�� he says.

His answer?

鈥淛ust the work,鈥� says Mr. Subotin. 鈥淲e have to do what we do. You wake up every morning; you know you have a job here; you have people to help.鈥�

Oleksandr Naselenko supported reporting for this story.