Clonmel man recounts dramatic evacuation of his ill father-in-law from warn-torn Ukraine to Ireland

A Clonmel man and his Ukrainian wife have successfully evacuated her very ill father from war-torn eastern Ukraine to Ireland in a dramatic rescue mission.

58-year-old Victor Thibulin is now in the care of medical staff at Cork University Hospital after being safely airlifted from Poland to Cork by the Irish Air Corps last week.

For Andrew Laste from Clonmel and his wife Elen, it is a happy end to a worrying and stressful three months since the Russian invasion began.

Victor’s arduous journey from a hospital in Luhansk in the Russian-controlled eastern Donbas region of Ukraine to Ireland was like a plot from a movie.

The rescue mission involved a team of 20-25 paramedics and drivers who transported Victor in relays to Poland via a long, circuitous route through Russia and Belarus under the radar of the authorities in both countries.

Victor, who has been seriously ill with diabetes and kidney problems since contracting Covid-19 last November, is currently undergoing tests at Cork University Hospital with Elena by his side.

“We are so grateful to be able to say we have him in a safe place and Elena has her dad back,” said Andrew.

The Clonmel man, who runs Emergency Medical Training Solutions in Clonmel with Elena, initially visited Ukraine in March bringing a van load of medical supplies with fellow Stand With Ukraine – Co. Tipperary volunteer Anthony Broxson from Carrick-on-Suir.

The former firefighter and emergency medical technician spent a month in Lviv doing volunteer work and setting up supply lines for donations from Ireland but also seeing if he could progress efforts to get his father-in-law out of the country. He was unable to make any progress as Victor was so far away and too frail to travel.

He and Elena’s concerns for Victor’s safety grew as the Russian military campaign narrowed its focus to the eastern part of Ukraine.

The main fighting is currently concentrated just four and a half hours journey from Luhansk, which is also experiencing sporadic bombing.

The couple, who live between Grange and Newcastle, decided to travel to Przemysl in Poland in early May and try to find a way of getting Victor out. Andrew said they felt they would have a better chance of figuring out how to evacuate him if they based themselves there.

Following their arrival in Poland, they became very concerned for Victor’s safety when they watched video footage of a hospital being bombed in the city of Severodonetsk just over 100km from Luhansk.

Through Elena’s contacts in Ukraine, the couple found a group of Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian medics evacuating people from Ukraine. The group agreed to get him out of Ukraine while Andrew and Elena paid them their travel expenses and for their time.

Andrew said they initially considered bringing Victor to Poland via Ukraine but due to the fighting and volatile situation in the east of the country it was ruled out as too dangerous.

It was decided instead to evacuate him through Russia, an option that was also not without danger.

He described how the evacuation was done in a number of stages and took about 38 hours to complete.

Victor was taken from the hospital in Luhansk, under orders from Elena and Andrew, and put in a car that transported him over the Russian border just 40 minutes of a drive from Luhansk.

Once over the border, Victor was transferred to a private Russian ambulance and ferried by Russian paramedics and drivers to the Belarusian border. In Belarus, he was transferred to another ambulance and Belarusian paramedics took over his care and transport.

Andrew said while Belarus was easy to enter it was not so easy to leave and cross into Poland. This was the only part of the journey where they encountered some difficulty and they had to pay a few bribes to get Victor over the border into Poland.

Andrew and Elena were in the Polish equivalent of a Woodies Store car park when they received the call that Victor had arrived safely in Poland and they met him and the Belarusian paramedics accompanying him there.

Andrew paid tribute to the network of medics and drivers, who through a huge collective effort went above and beyond the call of duty to get Victor safely out of Ukraine into the arms of his family.

“There is no side for these people. A lot of people forget about that because of the propaganda on both sides (of the war).

“There are amazing people, no matter what nationality, who want to help fellow human beings. They are very skilled ex-military and paramedics who are just using their skills to help.”

Victor spent four days in hospital in Bialystok in Poland before being airlifted from Lublin Airport by an Irish Air Corps PC12 plane with a HSE critical care team on board.

Elena accompanied him on the flight, which arrived in Cork Airport on Tuesday, May 24. Andrew, meanwhile, drove the van they travelled to Poland in back across the European continent.

He arrived in Ireland on the ferry last Saturday evening.

Andrew said he wished to thank TD Mattie McGrath and his daughter Triona McGrath for all their work in arranging for the

Irish Air Corps to bring Victor to Ireland and for their support throughout the past three months.

“We wouldn’t have been able to get Victor back to Ireland without the airlift from the Air Corps.”

He thanked Kieran Browne in the HSE for his efforts in co-ordinating the Irish Air Corps medical evacuation and Dr David Menzies, a specialist in critical care at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin for his medical support.

Andrew also thanked Dr Simon Walsh and advanced paramedic Paul Dolan, who accompanied Victor on the air lift journey.

He says Victor’s condition has improved in recent days after his long and arduous escape from Ukraine where he worked most of his life as a builder and in recent years as a taxi driver.

“Elena is just so happy now to have him home here and know he is in a safe place.
“She is thrilled with the attention he is getting in CUH. They couldn’t do enough. The HSE has been absolutely super.”