Venice mayor honors Ukrainian soldier for saving teen’s life

Venice Mayor Luigi Brgnaro in northeastern Italy awarded Ukrainian soldier Yanis Tereshchenko, 32, for saving a young man with a knife wound while on leave in the country.

“Thanks to the first aid kit he always carries with him and his quick reaction, he was able to stop the bleeding and provide assistance until medics arrived,” Brugnaro wrote on social media.

Brugnaro expressed his “personal gratitude and appreciation on behalf of all of Venice for this incredible act of humanity, courage, and selflessness.”

The incident occurred on March 10 in the center of Venice, a unique city with a network of 118 small islands that is connected by 400 bridges. 

A young Italian man sustained severe knife wounds during a fight with a peer, who fled the scene. The victim walked a few meters before collapsing, bleeding heavily.

Tereshchenko, a Ukrainian serviceman in the Third Assault Brigade, who was a teacher in civilian life, provided life-saving medical assistance to the victim. 

Other bystanders called the police and medical services. Forensic experts and local police arrived shortly thereafter.

“Twenty  minutes in Venice. The boy was lucky I had a first aid kit and tourniquets,” Tereshchenko wrote on X (formerly Twitter) right after the incident.

Tereshchenko always carries a first aid kit with him. 

He spotted the injured boy on his way to the hotel and quickly applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding. The boy had already lost consciousness, and his body was lying in a pool of blood.

“I tried to keep him conscious until the medics arrived. I don’t know if he would have survived without that. People around were shocked, and no one knew how to help. Unfortunately, after all I’ve seen in the war, I didn’t hesitate for a second to act,” Tereshchenko said in an interview with local media.