Footage from a Ukrainian trench coming under heavy and accurate Russian artillery fire shows troops already wounded, but sustaining more casualties as explosions rock their fighting position.

After the second blast, a panicked voice can be heard desperately calling out for a tourniquet, and the cameraman promptly obliges his request. Bright red arterial blood can be seen spurting into the frame, and as the tourniquet is applied, the limb can be seen dangling, likely avulsed with a broken humerus.

The angle of the camera makes it hard for the viewer to determine if the tourniquet was correctly applied. If it was, the wounded soldier likely just earned a couple extra hours of life, and his battle now is to be evacuated to a trauma facility. Had the tourniquet not been applied, he would have bled out in seconds based on his rate of blood loss.

About the Author

Will Killmore

Will Killmore is a US Army combat infantry veteran and Purple Heart recipient. He has deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan with the 172nd Stryker Brigade and 173rd Airborne Brigade. Following his time in service, he successfully pursued a certificate of journalism and has been a blogger for Funker530 since 2014. Follow Will’s bad takes on Twitter