The People Who Run Towards the Explosions: An Interview with Lieutenant Colonel Serhii Kovtoniuk of Ukraine's Emergency Services
By Matthew Parish
Monday 2 November 2026
There is a particular kind of courage that rarely receives the recognition it deserves in wartime. It is not the courage of the soldier advancing upon an enemy position, nor that of the infantryman defending a trench against overwhelming odds. It is the courage of those who, when the missiles have fallen and the buildings are burning, deliberately move towards the destruction rather than away from it. These are the firefighters, rescue workers, explosives specialists and emergency personnel of Ukraine's State Emergency Service, known by its Ukrainian abbreviation, DSNS.
In Dnipro, a city that has endured repeated Russian missile and drone attacks throughout the full-scale invasion, their work has become an indispensable component of civilian survival. When apartment buildings collapse, when fires consume industrial facilities, when unexploded ordnance threatens residential neighbourhoods and when terrified families search for relatives beneath the rubble, it is often the DSNS that arrives first and remains longest. Its personnel perform their duties knowing that a second Russian strike may arrive while they are attempting to save the victims of the first.
The past week in Dnipro has been particularly difficult, marked by the continuing disruption and uncertainty of life in a city exposed to Russian attack. Against this background, arranging interviews with public officials is not always straightforward. The demands of emergency response necessarily take precedence over the requirements of journalism, and even the most conscientious public servants cannot be expected to abandon urgent operational responsibilities to answer questions from foreign correspondents.
It was in these circumstances that I established contact with Lieutenant Colonel Serhii Kovtoniuk, who heads the communications department of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Our initial attempts to speak were frustrated by the practical difficulties of travelling and working in wartime Ukraine. Lieutenant Colonel Kovtoniuk subsequently provided detailed answers to my questions in Ukrainian, which have been translated into English and edited for clarity and readability while preserving their substance. The interview offers an unusually comprehensive account of the daily work, sacrifices and continuing needs of Ukraine's emergency services in one of the country's most heavily affected regions.
An interview with Lieutenant Colonel Serhii Kovtoniuk
Matthew Parish: Could you begin by explaining your position, professional background and principal responsibilities within the State Emergency Service in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast?
Lieutenant Colonel Serhii Kovtoniuk: I have served in the State Emergency Service of Ukraine for more than twenty years. Approximately fifteen years of my professional career have been connected with information management and cooperation with the media. For the past several years, I have headed the communications department of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
My principal responsibility is to inform the public about the activities of our rescue personnel, including the rapid reporting of emergencies, the consequences of Russian attacks, fires, accidents and other incidents. This involves constant interaction with journalists, the preparation of official statements, photographic and video materials and the organisation of media access to emergency sites.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, our work has changed substantially. Today, communications are not simply about reporting events. They are an important element of public safety, countering disinformation and conveying accurate information about what is happening in our region.
We must work quickly, accurately and responsibly because public confidence in official sources depends upon the timeliness and reliability of the information we provide.
Matthew Parish: How has the work of the State Emergency Service in Dnipro and the surrounding region changed since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022?
Serhii Kovtoniuk: Before the full-scale invasion, our principal responsibilities were extinguishing fires, responding to road traffic accidents, dealing with industrial emergencies and managing other incidents associated with peacetime.
After 24 February 2022, the nature of our work changed fundamentally. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast became an area of constant military danger. Russian forces regularly attack our cities and communities with missiles, drones, artillery and other weapons.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the region has been attacked almost 37,000 times. DSNS units have responded to more than 22,400 incidents connected with military operations, including more than 3,900 fires caused by shelling and other attacks.
During this period, our rescue workers have saved 1,128 people.
In practical terms, our service has had to adapt to operating under conditions of permanent military danger. Our personnel extinguish major fires, clear the rubble of destroyed buildings, free trapped civilians, evacuate casualties, assist medical teams and work at the sites of missile and drone attacks.
At the same time, they must continue performing all their traditional civil protection duties. The war has not eliminated ordinary emergencies. It has simply added new and far more dangerous challenges to those we already faced.
Matthew Parish: What are the most serious humanitarian and rescue challenges confronting your colleagues as a consequence of Russian missile strikes and drone attacks?
Serhii Kovtoniuk: The greatest challenge is the preservation of human life. Behind every Russian attack there may be people killed or injured, homes destroyed and families who have lost everything in a single moment.
According to our available statistics, since the beginning of the full-scale war, 1,134 people have been killed by attacks in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, including 51 children. A further 7,247 people have been injured, including 489 children.
Our rescue workers operate in exceptionally difficult circumstances. They frequently encounter collapsed buildings, fires, damaged utilities and the threat of further attacks, while simultaneously conducting search and rescue operations.
One particular problem is repeated attacks upon locations where emergency services are already working. These create additional dangers for rescuers, medical personnel, police officers and the original victims.
Another major challenge is unexploded ordnance. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, our explosives disposal teams have discovered and destroyed more than 20,350 explosive devices and items of ammunition.
Our work therefore extends well beyond responding to the immediate consequences of attacks. It also includes the long-term tasks of mine safety, assisting victims and reducing risks to civilian populations.
Matthew Parish: How is cooperation organised between the State Emergency Service, the regional military administration, police, medical services and other government institutions when responding to emergencies?
Serhii Kovtoniuk: Responding effectively to emergencies during wartime is impossible without close cooperation between all the relevant services.
The DSNS works alongside the regional military administration, local government authorities, the National Police, medical institutions, municipal services and other organisations.
Each service has its own responsibilities. Rescue workers conduct search and rescue operations, extinguish fires, free trapped casualties and eliminate dangerous consequences of structural damage. The police secure emergency sites, maintain public order and document the consequences of attacks. Medical personnel treat the injured and transport them to hospitals.
The regional military administration and local authorities coordinate essential services, assistance to victims, the mobilisation of necessary resources and the restoration of damaged infrastructure.
Rapid communication between all those involved is especially important. In a critical situation, there is no time for lengthy consultations. Every service must understand its responsibilities clearly.
It is precisely this coordination that allows us to assist people as quickly as possible and minimise the consequences of emergencies.
Matthew Parish: What particular dangers do firefighters, rescuers and other emergency personnel face in carrying out their duties during the war? How do you protect them?
Serhii Kovtoniuk: Today, the work of a Ukrainian rescue worker involves risks that are virtually unknown in ordinary peacetime operations.
These include the threat of further missile and drone strikes, unexploded ordnance, missile fragments, unstable building structures, fires and dangerous chemical substances.
Repeated attacks against locations where rescuers are already conducting searches or extinguishing fires are especially dangerous.
Unfortunately, our service has also suffered losses. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, eleven employees of our Main Directorate have been killed in Russian attacks, nine of them while performing their official duties. Another 67 personnel have been injured.
To protect our personnel, we use personal protective equipment, specialised machinery, communications systems and established emergency response procedures. During operations, we assess the nature of the damage, the presence of explosive hazards and the possibility of further attacks.
But we must recognise that under wartime conditions it is impossible to eliminate every risk. Our rescue workers knowingly perform their duties even when the danger remains exceptionally high.
Matthew Parish: What psychological impact has the prolonged war had upon DSNS personnel? Are there specific programmes of psychological support and rehabilitation for rescue workers and their families?
Serhii Kovtoniuk: The prolonged war has had a serious psychological impact upon everyone who works directly with its consequences.
Rescue workers regularly see the dead and injured, destroyed homes and human suffering. They work at the scenes of tragedies and sometimes lose their own colleagues. All of this leaves a psychological mark.
It is particularly difficult for those who spend long periods working under conditions of constant danger, heavy responsibility and irregular, exhausting workloads. A person may physically return home after a shift while psychologically remaining at the scene of the latest tragedy.
The DSNS provides psychological support for its personnel. Psychologists work within the service, and methods of psychological assistance and recovery following critical incidents are available.
Support from colleagues, the early identification of psychological exhaustion and access to professional assistance are also important.
In my opinion, the psychological resilience of rescue workers is not a secondary consideration. It is one of the essential components of our service's ability to perform its responsibilities.
We cannot demand constant endurance from people without paying attention to their psychological condition.
Matthew Parish: How effective is cooperation between the DSNS and local volunteers, charitable foundations, civil society organisations and international humanitarian partners? Can you give examples of successful cooperation?
Serhii Kovtoniuk: Cooperation with volunteers, charitable foundations, civil society organisations and international partners is extremely important to the work of the DSNS during wartime.
We understand that responding effectively to major attacks requires substantial material, technical and human resources. Support from our partners helps strengthen the capabilities of our rescue units.
Important forms of assistance include specialised vehicles, equipment, personal protective gear, generators, medical supplies and other essential resources.
Humanitarian assistance to affected civilians is equally important. This includes providing necessities, supporting those who have lost their homes and helping communities that suffer most severely from attacks.
Support from local government also plays a significant role. For example, with the assistance of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, 23 modern specialised vehicles were purchased in October for community rescue officers.
This is a concrete example of how cooperation between public authorities can improve the equipment available to our service and increase its effectiveness at the local level.
Matthew Parish: What resources, equipment, training or international assistance do the emergency services in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast need most urgently?
Serhii Kovtoniuk: Under conditions of full-scale war, the needs of our rescue units are constantly increasing.
Our principal requirements include modern fire and rescue vehicles, specialised engineering machinery, equipment for emergency rescue operations, personal protective equipment and tools for clearing rubble and locating people beneath collapsed structures.
Equipping our explosives disposal teams remains particularly important because of the large quantities of unexploded ordnance that must be discovered, identified and neutralised.
We also need modern communications equipment, independent power supplies, medical equipment and specialised vehicles.
Particular attention must be paid to training personnel, exchanging experience with international partners and introducing modern emergency response technologies.
International assistance in these areas is not simply a matter of providing equipment. It is an investment in the ability of rescue services to respond more quickly to emergencies and save more human lives.
Matthew Parish: How does the DSNS inform civilians about the dangers associated with missile strikes, drones, unexploded ordnance and other consequences of military operations? What could ordinary citizens do better to protect themselves?
Serhii Kovtoniuk: Public information is one of the important responsibilities of the DSNS.
We use our official website, social media, cooperation with news organisations, educational materials and other available communications channels.
We regularly remind people of the need to respond to air raid warnings, remain in shelters and observe fire and mine safety precautions.
We pay particular attention to educating children. They must know how to behave during air raid alerts, what to do if they discover a suspicious object and whom to contact for assistance.
There are several simple but exceptionally important rules that can save lives.
First, never ignore air raid warnings. Go to the nearest shelter.
Second, never approach fragments of missiles, drones, ammunition or any other suspicious objects. Do not touch them or attempt to move them yourself.
Third, if you discover a potentially dangerous object, move to a safe distance and notify the emergency services by calling 101 or 102.
Most importantly, never disregard safety precautions, even when it appears that there is no immediate threat. During wartime, caution can save lives.
Matthew Parish: Could you share one or two stories of courage, self-sacrifice or exceptional humanity among DSNS personnel that deserve the attention of an international audience?
Serhii Kovtoniuk: I believe that the courage of Ukrainian rescue workers should be understood not only through individual stories but also through their everyday work.
One particularly revealing example is the work of our explosives disposal units. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, our specialists have discovered and destroyed more than 20,350 explosive devices and items of ammunition.
Behind every one of those items lies a potential threat to civilian lives. Our explosives specialists work with dangerous objects whose removal determines the safety of entire communities. It is exceptionally difficult and dangerous work, requiring great professionalism, composure and responsibility.
Another example is the work of rescue teams following missile and drone strikes. When residential buildings have been destroyed, people may remain trapped beneath the rubble, and every minute matters.
Our rescuers dismantle collapsed structures, search for casualties, free trapped people and hand them over to medical personnel. Sometimes they do this while further attacks remain a real possibility.
I cannot avoid mentioning the colleagues we have lost while performing their duties. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, eleven members of our Main Directorate have died, nine
of them directly in the course of their official responsibilities.
For us, these are not simply statistics. They are our colleagues, people with whom we worked, spoke and carried out our duties.
Their courage and dedication to their profession deserve remembrance and respect.
Matthew Parish: How well do you think the international community understands the everyday work of Ukrainian rescue personnel? What do foreign journalists most frequently overlook or misunderstand?
Serhii Kovtoniuk: I believe that the international community now understands much better the conditions under which Ukrainian rescue workers operate. Foreign journalists who come to Ukraine, speak with our personnel and witness the consequences of Russian attacks have played an important role in this.
Nevertheless, there are things that photographs and television reports cannot fully convey.
Attention is usually concentrated upon the scale of destruction, the numbers killed and injured, fires and the immediate consequences of attacks. This is understandable because these are the events that attract public attention.
But what frequently remains outside the camera's view is the everyday work of rescue personnel: long shifts, constant readiness to respond, physical and psychological exhaustion, working at night, in freezing conditions or extreme heat, and under the continuing threat of further strikes.
It is also not always apparent that after dealing with one emergency, rescue workers return to their units and continue their duties. The next call may come at any moment.
I would like international audiences to see Ukrainian rescuers not simply as people who arrive at scenes of tragedy, but as professionals who provide daily protection to millions of people under exceptionally difficult conditions.
Matthew Parish: Finally, what principal message would you like to convey to British and other international readers of the Lviv Herald about the situation in Dnipro, the work of the DSNS and the needs of Ukraine's civilian population?
Serhii Kovtoniuk: I would like international audiences to understand that the war in Ukraine is not confined to the front line.
It is also taking place in cities and communities where ordinary people live, businesses operate, children study, hospitals function and rescue workers perform their duties every day.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast continues to suffer Russian attacks. People lose their homes, are injured and are killed. Civilian infrastructure is destroyed, and communities require continuing assistance and reconstruction.
Under these circumstances, the DSNS continues its work. Our rescuers attend the sites of attacks, search for people beneath rubble, extinguish fires, assist casualties and do everything possible to preserve human life.
We are grateful to our international partners for their support of Ukraine, for their equipment, humanitarian assistance and solidarity with our people.
But the war continues, and therefore the need for such assistance remains.
I would like to address British and other international readers with a simple request: do not lose interest in Ukraine.
Behind every news report about another attack are real people, their families, their homes
and their lives.
And for as long as the war continues, Ukrainian rescue workers will continue doing what they know best: saving people.
Beyond the headlines: the quiet heroism of Ukraine's rescuers
There is something profoundly moving about the understated manner in which Lieutenant Colonel Kovtoniuk describes the losses suffered by his organisation. Eleven colleagues killed, nine while carrying out their duties and 67 others injured. These figures are presented without theatrical language or an appeal to sentiment, yet they tell us something fundamental about the character of this war. Russia's invasion has transformed the ordinary institutions of civilian government into organisations operating under conditions of extraordinary danger. The emergency services, whose traditional responsibilities include extinguishing domestic fires and responding to traffic accidents, have become an essential component of Ukraine's national resilience.
The statistics supplied by Lieutenant Colonel Kovtoniuk are striking. Nearly 37,000 attacks upon Dnipropetrovsk Oblast since February 2022, more than 22,400 emergency responses connected with military operations, over 20,350 explosive hazards neutralised and 1,128 lives saved. These are figures provided by the regional DSNS communications department rather than independently audited totals, and they describe cumulative experiences over almost five years of war. Nevertheless, they convey the immense scale of the responsibilities now borne by an organisation whose personnel are not combatants in the conventional sense.
The distinction matters. Soldiers accept the possibility of death as an inherent feature of their profession, although that does not diminish their courage. Civilian emergency personnel enter a different kind of moral undertaking. Their purpose is not to defeat an enemy but to preserve life, irrespective of the political or military circumstances in which a disaster occurs. A firefighter entering a burning apartment building does not ask whether the person trapped inside agrees with his political opinions. A rescue worker removing rubble from a collapsed residential block does not distinguish between the deserving and undeserving. The obligation to save life is universal, and it is precisely this universality that makes the deliberate endangerment of rescue personnel so disturbing.
One of the most revealing passages in this interview concerns the psychological consequences of repeated exposure to death and destruction. Lieutenant Colonel Kovtoniuk observes that a rescue worker may return home physically while remaining psychologically at the scene of the latest tragedy. It is a simple observation, but one that captures an essential truth about prolonged exposure to extreme circumstances. The human mind does not necessarily recover at the same pace as the human body, and the burdens imposed upon those who repeatedly confront the worst moments in other people's lives cannot be measured solely in hours worked or incidents attended.
There is also a broader institutional lesson. Ukraine's survival has depended not merely upon its Armed Forces but upon the continued functioning of civilian institutions under immense pressure. Hospitals continue treating patients, local authorities maintain essential services, utility workers restore electricity and water supplies, schools and universities struggle to provide education, and emergency personnel continue responding to catastrophes that would overwhelm the resources of many peaceful European cities. Their work is rarely glamorous, and its achievements are often measured by disasters prevented rather than victories celebrated.
For international readers, the temptation is to understand the war through maps, territorial advances, diplomatic negotiations and the daily arithmetic of military casualties. These matters are important, but they offer only a partial understanding of what it means for a modern European society to endure years of sustained military attack. Behind every destroyed building lies an elaborate network of human responsibilities: someone must extinguish the fire, search for survivors, identify dangerous explosives, restore essential services, provide temporary shelter and explain to the public what has happened. It is through these activities that civilisation continues to function amidst destruction.
The practical needs identified by Lieutenant Colonel Kovtoniuk are correspondingly straightforward. Modern rescue vehicles, protective equipment, specialist engineering machinery, explosives disposal technology, reliable communications and psychological support are not luxuries. They are the tools through which human lives are preserved. International assistance directed towards these purposes produces consequences that can be measured not merely in institutional capacity but in people rescued from collapsed buildings and communities made safer from unexploded ordnance.
There is a final irony in the circumstances surrounding this interview. It took place not across a conference table in a comfortable government office, but amidst a particularly difficult period in Dnipro in which the city was under heavy bombardment and many people were killed in a devastating Russian strike on Dnipro railway station. The practical interruptions of wartime life, the competing demands upon public officials and the constant possibility of another emergency made conventional arrangements less straightforward than they might have been in peaceful circumstances. Yet the resulting answers are thoughtful, detailed and unmistakably concerned with the welfare of those who serve and those they seek to protect.
Lieutenant Colonel Kovtoniuk's closing appeal deserves particular attention. He does not ask the international community to admire him personally, nor does he present the rescue services as an organisation seeking recognition for its own sake. Instead, he asks that the world should not lose interest in Ukraine and that the human beings behind the statistics should not be forgotten. It is a modest request from a representative of a service that has endured considerable sacrifice.
The next time a Russian missile strikes an apartment building in Dnipro, the international headlines may record the number of people killed, the scale of the damage and the political reactions that follow. What those headlines may not record is the rescue worker who spends the night searching through unstable concrete for someone he has never met, knowing that another missile could arrive at any moment. Yet it is in such actions, repeated thousands of times across Ukraine, that some of the most compelling evidence of the country's moral endurance is to be found.
Ukraine's rescuers do not have the luxury of waiting for the war to end before beginning the work of reconstruction and recovery. They undertake that work every day, amidst the ruins, while the explosions continue.
