Peter Fouche, a former policeman and British citizen, is now a combat medic with the Ukrainian army. He calls on the West for Ukraine to receive weapons immediately, or they will be forced to use them soon.
Social media was flooded with an emotional video last week featuring a combat medic who said he was ashamed to be Westerner. He also called on Western governments to provide Ukraine with the resources it needs to win, or else it will be exterminated.
We found him in the video. Despite early claims, Peter Fouche is not with the International Legion – a unit for foreigners wanting to join the Ukrainian Army – but with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He became a combat doctor despite his initial aversion to the blood. He runs the charity Project Konstantin, which provides ambulances for frontline doctors and conducts casualty evacuations.
Here is a shortened version of our interview. Watch the full version here.
What made you join the Ukrainian Army?
I’m a former policeman and a father. My mother, who was visiting from South Africa, had visited me in London at the beginning of the full scale invasion. I saw on TV the news about children being murdered in Ukraine. My protective instincts as a father kicked in. I told my mother, “Mom I’m going there.” My motivation was to protect the children in Ukraine, so that no other parents would have to suffer the pain of losing their child.
How old are You? Do you have children?
I’m 49 and my daughter is 15.
Do you have a personal connection with Ukraine?
No, not at any time. Although I have a saying that says “Yesterday, I was a Brit; today, I am a Ukrainian,” I love your country and culture, as well as your soulful connection. It’s the way you speak, cook, and sing. I think that I was connected to Ukraine long before I was even born.
https://twitter.com/KonstantinTeam/status/1660563930668826624
Where are you currently serving, if it’s safe to say?
I’m going to be vague. I’m somewhere in the East, near Bakhmut.
What is your job? How long have your been doing it?
I am a medical instructor as well as a combat medic. My job involves a lot of casualty evacuation, which is rescuing injured soldiers from zero to get them to safety.
I also arrange for the delivery of medical supplies and medicines. I’ve been officially in the Armed Forces of Ukraine for only three months. All my time in Ukraine I have been a volunteer medical professional. With my co-director Halyna, I run the charity Project Konstantin. It’s a frontline volunteer medivac service.
Before I joined the army we evacuated soldiers from Bakhmut Forest and Kreminna Forest for a year-and-a-half. I gained a lot medical experience. The army then invited me to join.
Project Konstantin provides vehicles, Starlinks generators, Blanchetta tablets, Google tablets and medical supplies. So I am a medic during the day and raise supplies for ZSU at night.
Have you ever worked in a medical facility before coming to Ukraine?
I was terrified of blood. I was the most squeamish of people you could imagine. I was a London cab driver when my brother was killed in a tragic South African motorcycle accident.
I thought: “I would like to be a doctor and help people in dire need.”
I went to London Ambulance for a day, but I ran home at the first sign that blood was flowing. Then Ukraine happened. I joined the Territorial Defense right at the start of the war. I received two sessions of TCCC life safety combat training in the foyer at the Khreschatyk hotel in Kyiv. The total time was about five hours. They handed me an ambulance and a rifle not long after and told me to go to Sievierodonetsk. The rest is history.
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