The fourth year of the largest armed conflict in Europe since the end of World War Two has begun. For three long years (February 24, 2022 – present) the Ukraine has fought against the Russian invaders. The annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 preceded the invasion. Since 2022, many Ukrainian soldiers died, and many were severely injured. Those survivors whom I spoke with and documented, do not regret taking up arms and going to defend their country against the aggressor.
These injured soldiers – professionals, conscripts and volunteers – have all lost one or two limbs. I listened to their stories, became their friends, went to swim with them, played wheelchair basketball with them, and then I made their portraits. But not only soldiers are injured at this brutal war, civilians get injured too, a cruel reminder of the toll collateral damage takes in conflicts that are fought in civic spaces.
Meet these Ukrainian heroes who fought for their freedom, democracy and justice. Soldiers who stood up to Russian aggression.
Kyiv
Tertychnyi Oleksandr Ivanovych (45), at the Center of Complex Endoprosthesis, Osseointegration and Bionics, where he is undergoing rehabilitation therapy after being injured fighting the Russians on 18 August 2022 near Oleksandrivka, Donetsk Oblast.
“I enrolled voluntarily in the Ukrainian Army at the beginning of April, 2022. When our company was hit by shelling, I was seriously wounded in the left leg by shrapnel. I am married and we have a 13-year-old daughter. I need a prosthesis, that will provide a normal life, the ability to work, support my family, and raise children.”
June 2024
Kyiv
Corporal Bohdan (42) was wounded near Lyman, Donetsk region.
“A grenade took off part of my legs. No one came to evacuate me when it happened – I had to wait six hours for someone to come. I had several operations, and I have been walking with these prostheses already for four months.”
Bohdan worked as a welder before the war, and he wants to work as a welder after the war as well.
June 2024
Kyiv
Tolochenko Oleksandr Olehovych (24) was wounded in May 2024 in Bachmut. Before the war he worked as a taxi driver, and after the war he wants to be a taxi driver again. He likes sports and play basketball for the Tytanovi wheelchair team. Oleksandr also drive a car, it gives him freedom.
“From February 25, 2022, I defended Radulyn – my native village in Zhytomyr Oblast. Later, I was mobilized and became a rifleman, a soldier of the “AYDAR” battalion and was sent near Bakhmut in Donetsk region. During an assault on enemy positions, I stepped on an anti-personnel mine. A strong explosion tore off my left leg, and my right leg was hit by shrapnel, and it could not be saved. Both my legs had to be amputated above the knees, one very, very, high”.
June 2024
Kyiv
Minhaliyev Vitaliy Viktorovych
Minhaliyev Volodymyr Viktorovych
Twins Vitaliy (left) and Volodymyr. They are 21 years old. Both were injured near Bakhmut on 11 November, 2023. They waited 24 hours to be medically evacuated. Both brothers joined the Armed Forces in December 2021. Today, they undergoing rehabilitation therapy at the Centre of Complex Endoprosthesis, Osseointegration and Bionics.
“We were wounded in Klishchiivka, a village in Bakhmut Raion, Donetsk Oblast, in eastern Ukraine. We were shooting back at the Russians and did not notice a Russian drone dropping a shrapnel projectile.”
December 2024
Kyiv
Kachmar Stepan Osipovich (38) is from Lviv Oblast and is married with two children. At the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Stepan was mobilised and joined the army where he served in the 24th Infantry Brigades in the east of Ukraine. He was wounded during artillery shelling in the village of Vovcheyarivka (near Lysychansk) on June 26, 2022, by a projectile which exploded near him and tore off his left arm leaving him in need of a prosthesis and rehabilitation.
March 2024
Piatykhatky, Kharkiv
Sasha Kosoi Oleksandr, in his 70s, was a marathon runner until he stepped on a PFM-1S antipersonnel mine, also called a ‘butterfly’ or ‘petal’ mine, while collecting potatoes in August 2023. He received a prosthesis four months ago and is already walking. Now he is saving for a prosthesis that will allow him to run again.
“I was in one way lucky, my neighbour is a doctor, she immediately compressed my leg with a tourniquet, stopping the bleeding. It took less than hour to get to the hospital. Therefore, the amputation is below the knee and not higher. I used to run marathons I am saving money for a special prothesis so I can run them again.”
April 2024
Kyiv
Lyakishev Andriy Valeriyovych (31)
Before the war, Andriy worked in a mine. He was mobilized, served as a rifleman in a mechanized company, and fought in eastern Ukraine from the first days of the war.
“I was injured on July 17, 2023 near Staromaiors’ke, Donetsk Oblast. I received multiple injuries, but the most serious of my wounds was in my right shoulder. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to save the arm – the amputation is very high.”
June 2024
Kyiv
Ivantsiv Anton Volodymyrovych (41) was injured in Bakhmut, the explosion was so powerful that it tore Anton’s bulletproof vest and helmet to pieces. His torso was mutilated by shrapnel, and he suffered a brain injury, concussion and multiple gunshot wounds to his face, limbs and chest. He lost eight and half litres of blood. He was taken to the Mechnikov hospital in Dnipro, where his condition was stabilized, but he lost both arms and a leg. The doctors were stunned that Anton survived such injuries.
“On the second day of the Russian full-scale invasion (25.02.22), I joined the ranks of the Cherkasy TRO (The Territorial Defence Forces). After some time, I was transferred to the ZSU (Armed Forces of Ukraine). I was wounded in the battle near Bakhmut. Now I don’t fight Russian occupiers, I fight for myself. I am determined to live, to live a happy life full of different interests“, says Anton.
March 2024
Kyiv
Sakharuk Vitaly Oleksandrovych and his mom Ira.
Vitaly is 25 years old, he was injured in November 2023. Ira had not heard from him for three days, which were the three days that he was in a coma, As soon as he came out of the coma, he called his mom immediately.
“When the war started, my father and my older brother were mobilized. I wanted to enroll too, so I went to the district military committee, but they refused me. A year later, in august 2023, I signed the contract to enlist, and became a sniper with the A1126 assault troops of 25th brigade. We fought in the Donetsk direction near Novoselivka, our trenches were just 50 metres from the enemy. The last battle was very difficult, it lasted 12 hours. Orks (Russians) used poisoned gas. They were shelling continuously. Then I saw a kamikaze drone over my head.”
Vitaly’s older brother and his father are still fighting Russia’s aggression at the frontline.
June 2024
Horenka, Kyiv Oblast
Ladyka Matviy Serhiyobych (6) would like to be a soldier. He would like to be with his father, Sergey, who enrolled as a volunteer in the Ukrainian army in the middle of April 2024. He misses him a lot. His family used to live in a five-story apartment building in Horenka, which is located about 25 km from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The building was damaged by Russian shelling at the beginning of the invasion in 2022. Matviy was just two and half years old when the Russian full-scale invasion started. He and his family spent a few days in the cellar of their bombed-out building before they were evacuated by volunteers. Matviy calls himself a child of war. He worries about his dad, who, at the time of this interview, was in the defence training section.
“When my dad will go to the war, [what Matviy calls the frontline], he will need proper equipment, like body armor. Then I will get his gear and follow him to the war.”
June 2024
Hello I would like to compliment you for the work you have done. I think you have had a great courage but the message of war is this as i see it. By Antonio Cianfano