RUSSIA: A RUSSIAN SOLDIER, SHOT IN THE HEART DURING FIGHTING IN CHECHNYA, SURVIVES AN EXTRAORDINARY OPERATION

Record ID: 376024

  • Title: RUSSIA: A RUSSIAN SOLDIER, SHOT IN THE HEART DURING FIGHTING IN CHECHNYA, SURVIVES AN EXTRAORDINARY OPERATION
  • Date: 15th February 1995
  • Summary: ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (FEBRUARY 15, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV EXTERIOR OF MILITARY HOSPITAL (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. SV SOLDIER ANDREI RUDAKOVSKY BEFORE BULLET WAS REMOVED FROM HIS HEART (3 SHOTS) 0.28 3. SV SURGEON YURI SHEVCHENKO SPEAKING (RUSSIAN) 0.41 4. SV SHEVCHENKO SHOWING BULLET ON X-RAY (2 SHOTS) 0.50 5. SV OPERATION IN PROGRESS (3 SHOTS) 1.06 6. CU SHEVCHENKO SHOWING MODEL OF HEART AND ACTUAL BULLET REMOVED 1.19 7. SV SHEVCHENKO TELLING RUDAKOVSKY'S MOTHER THE OPERATION WAS SUCCESSFUL, MOTHER THANKING HIM (RUSSIAN) 1.42 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 2nd March 1995 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
  • City:
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA7E91Q0YV4JVUFJX4IXP77SK1W
  • Story Text: A Russian soldier, shot in the heart during fighting in Chechnya, has survived after an extraordinary operation on Wednesday (February 15).

    Twenty-year-old Andrei Rudakovsky was wounded in Grozny during the first unsuccessful Russian attack on the city on January 1.

    With a Kalashnikov bullet lodged in his heart Rudakovsky was taken to a military hospital in St Petersburg.

    Surgeon Yuri Shevchenko said a bullet in the heart would usually bring instant death but he said "God must have been looking out for this man".

    Shevchenko removed the 5.45mm bullet from the patient's heart in an operation lasting 45 minutes.

    The surgeon has performed a similar operation only once before, when he served as a military doctor in Afghanistan.

    To his mother's great relief Rudakovsky's operation was declared a success and doctors believe he can be discharged from hospital in about a month's time.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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