A doctor in Westchester just returned from a medical mission in Ukraine.

"There were a large number of eye injuries, facial injuries, nasal injuries. We treated three patients that had parts of their jaw destroyed by the injuries, gunshot wounds," said Dr. Augustine Moscatello, director of otolaryngology at Westchester Medical Center.

Moscatello joined a group of doctors, including Dr. Manoj Abraham at MidHudson Regional Hospital, who traveled to Western Ukraine to treat dozens of patients - both civilians and Ukranian soldiers - at Ivanko-Franivsk Regional Hospital.

Moscatello said he saw his first day how severe the injuries are.

"A stretcher wheeled out of the elevator, and there was a young man on the stretcher with a black patch over his right eye and his left foot was missing," he said. "You don't see things like that every day in the United States."

His decades of experience treating ear, nose and throat problems helped him treat blast and gunshot victims.

It was a sobering experience that left Moscatello with this outlook on war.

"I take away what I knew all already - that war is something to be avoided at all costs," he said.

Moscatello is in the process of planning another medical mission to Ukraine this spring.