The international delegation, headed by Ana Lucía Bueno, ICRC Public Health Coordinator, and Sujit Panda, Head of the Physical Rehabilitation…
Since March 2024, Iryna Masna, callsign “Prymarа”, served in the 12th Special Purpose Brigade “Azov”. Since October 2025, she has been serving in the 20th Operational Brigade “Liubart” of the 1st Azov Corps of the National Guard.
Her story was published on the National Guard’s page on January 7.
In the fall of 2023, “Prymarа” submitted an application to Azov, which was seeking operating room nurses for stabilization points.
“I was confident they would call me back. I really wanted to join Azov: the medical care there is top-level, good equipment, good training”, — she said.
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- Ірина Масна з позивним «Примара» (в центрі)) нагороджена медаллю «За врятоване життя». Фото Нацгвардії
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- Ірина Масна з позивним «Примара» нагороджена медаллю «За врятоване життя». Фото Нацгвардії
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- Ірина Масна з позивним «Примара» нагороджена медаллю «За врятоване життя». Фото Нацгвардії
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- Ірина Масна з позивним «Примара» нагороджена медаллю «За врятоване життя». Фото Нацгвардії
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- Ірина Масна з позивним «Примара» нагороджена медаллю «За врятоване життя». Фото Нацгвардії
Iryna’s first combat evacuation was relatively easy: a tangential leg wound, forest, darkness, armor — and the feeling that she was finally where she had been preparing to be all along.
The first truly difficult episode occurred in the summer in the Serebriansky Forest. “Prymarа” was on CASEVAC duty alone, although she was supposed to be paired with another medic. At the casualty transfer point, a group of sappers drove onto a mine.
There were several severely wounded. Prymarа and another medic divided responsibilities: he took the lighter cases, she took the most critical ones.
“One had massive bleeding in the leg, the thigh was shredded. He was very calm. The second had burns, including facial burns, and was screaming terribly. That was my first truly hard job”, — she recalls.
In the moving vehicle, she tried to insert catheters, stop the bleeding, and administer tranexamic acid. The pulse oximeter broke.
The wounded soldier with the shattered leg asked her to first give pain relief to his burned comrade. Iryna complied — and later reproached herself for a long time:
“I seriously messed up then. It wasn’t a very successful evacuation. I’m glad both survived. But I understood that the guy with the thigh injury needed blood transfusion already, and I couldn’t assess whether he was in shock”.
It was then that full awareness came to her:
“Only there did I realize that medicine is not just about ‘saving lives is cool.’ People’s lives are in your hands. If you lose composure, the consequences will be severe,” Prymarа shared.
After that evacuation, she drew conclusions and never again allowed herself to panic under stress.
“I never let situations like that happen again. You don’t pay attention to blood, torn limbs, screams. You just work. You have a task — and you carry it out”, — she said.
In her position, Iryna worked as a triage medic, CASEVAC and MEDEVAC medic, medic in concentration areas, and as an instructor in tactical medicine for personnel.
She is especially encouraged by moments when soldiers on positions correctly convert a tourniquet — replacing it with wound packing and thus saving a limb.
“There’s a huge problem with amputations that could have been avoided. And when you see that people you trained are doing everything right, you understand: we’re saving not only lives, but also quality of life after injury”, — she said.
Among the most vivid moments, Iryna mentions not only trips under shelling or forest evacuations, but also quiet seconds in the vehicle or at stabilization points:
“I’m incredibly happy when a shock patient — with impaired consciousness, barely responsive — starts talking after you give him one unit of blood. That change gives you goosebumps. You realize: right now, he’s alive because of what you know and what you do”, — Prymarа recalls.
She also remembers conversations with wounded soldiers under anesthesia:
“When a wounded soldier on ketamine starts saying, ‘I love you all so much! God, thank you for taking me!’ — that really stays with you”.
Not everyone later writes “thank you”, not everyone finds her on messengers or through acquaintances, but each such message is proof that she is where she belongs:
“You realize that the person is okay, that they’re alive, even after an amputation. And that gives you strength”, — Prymarа assures.
Today, she continues to combine medical work with instructional duties.
Her path from a culture and arts student to a combat brigade medic is a story of personal responsibility.
“Another person’s life is serious business. I have to approach it responsibly”, — says Prymarа.
For dedicated and effective service, Iryna Masna has been awarded the medal “For Saving a Life”.
