The Ukrainian amputees returning to the front to resist Russian advance

[April 11, 2024]  By Thomas Peter, Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey and Vitalii Hnidiy

DONETSK REGION, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukrainian commander Odin's lower leg was blown off in a mine explosion last year. Now he's back in the trenches.

"I had offers to go back to my local academy as a teacher or to work at a draft office in Odesa," the 32-year-old from the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade told Reuters from a cramped bunker on the front line in the eastern region of Donetsk.

"I said I'm not interested in these positions."

Mango, a 28-year-old tank gunner, saw his hand shredded by shrapnel two years ago during fighting in Mariupol before he was captured by the Russians. He too has returned to the front, as logistics chief for a battalion in the Azov Brigade, which held out for months in defense of the southern city.

Ukraine's drained and depleted army needs all the help it can get. It is being driven back by its far larger, more powerful enemy around the eastern city of Avdiivka while coming under increasing pressure at other sections of the front.

"When I got back from captivity, I realized the war wasn't over," said Mango, who like Odin and most Ukrainian soldiers goes by his military call sign for security reasons.

"Even though I can't sit inside a tank, I can still be useful. I can still fight a bit."

The two soldiers are among thousands of Ukrainian troops who have lost limbs since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in early 2022. While the Kyiv government declined to share data on casualties, which it deems sensitive, Pryncyp, a leading human rights organization representing military personnel, put the number of amputees from the war at between 20,000 and 50,000.

Battlefields are littered with mines, while artillery and drone attacks are a constant menace, meaning the grim number is rising steadily.

Reuters interviewed 20 military amputees for this article, seven of whom had returned to the army or intended to do so. For many of those able to do so, the desire to support their beleaguered comrades on the battlefield remains strong.

Masi Nayyem, co-founder of Pryncyp, said it was fairly common to see soldiers with artificial limbs still serving, though he didn't know how many had returned to the military and how many had entered civilian life.

The nature of their role will often be decided by the extent of the injuries, said Nayyem, who lost an eye in combat in June 2022. Soldiers with amputations below the knee, for example, are often deemed fit for service in support units but not for highly mobile or specialized roles, according to Pryncyp.

Tony Bloomfield, operations director at the British military charity for limbless veterans Blesma, said it was generally extremely rare for soldiers who have lost a limb to return to the conflict, but that this was happening in Ukraine.

"The nature of the conflict is leaving lots of limb loss," said Bloomfield, whose team has spent time with wounded Ukrainian soldiers to help them adapt to limb loss, adding that artillery barrages were a major cause of the injuries.

"Some of the Ukrainians we met, yes absolutely they want to go back and fight if they're able to," he said. "The difference here again, for Ukraine, is that if you leave the military, your country is still at war. And you're still at risk of injury."

'MY HAND WASN'T THERE ANYMORE'

Kyiv is desperate to replenish its ranks.

Soldiers say they are outnumbered and outgunned along the 1,000-km front line in the east and south of Ukraine. During Moscow's months-long assault on Avdiivka, some Ukrainian troops said they had been outnumbered by around seven to one.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a bill this month to lower the draft age from 27 to 25, while a mobilization bill aimed at drafting potentially hundreds of thousands more troops has made its way only slowly through parliament.

Both Odin and Mango - career soldiers who were in the military before the Russian invasion - expressed a sense of responsibility for the soldiers they had left behind in the trenches and of guilt that they had survived their injuries and could live in relative safety away from the fighting.

Odin had little hesitation in asking superiors for permission to return to combat after he had undergone surgery and rehabilitation with a prosthetic limb.

Mango, 28, the head of logistics of an Azov tank battalion who lost his hand in the defence of Mariupol and fell into Russian captivity, poses for a picture next to a tank at his base, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine December 26, 2023. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

At his mortar position in Donetsk, he moves freely up and down the trenches, speaking with members of his unit and giving orders. But he says he still has an intense fear of triggering a mine again as he fights Russian forces.

"Despite some saying everything was bad and that continuing a normal life was impossible, I'm living a full life," he said later, perched on a bed in the bunker and lifting a trouser leg to reveal his prosthetic limb.

"It's just different twice a day: in the morning when I put on the prosthesis and at night when I take it off," he added.

Mango was one of hundreds of Ukrainians defending the Azostal steel plant in an ultimately futile last stand to hold the city of Mariupol before it fell in May 2022.

"I wanted to check my watch to see what time it was," he recalled of the day of the injury. "I raised my hand, saw my watch wasn't there any more. My hand was completely shredded, bones sticking out and all."

Convincing top brass that he still had a military role to play was not easy. Mango said he had to ask his commander to submit a report to the authorities confirming that there was a suitable position for him in the unit.

"At every medical check-up, there was always one surgeon who would ask if I had reconsidered my decision, and each time I said 'No'," said Mango, who's hoping to have a bionic hand fitted to allow him to use artificial fingers.

ADVANCED BIONIC PROSTHETICS

In some ways, said the amputees interviewed, those who don't return to the military find the transition to civilian life even harder to navigate.

Leaving the army means negotiating a new set of challenges, from getting around a town or apartment to finding a job, as well as dealing with civilians who don't always know how to act when they come into contact with amputees.

The government provides high-quality prosthetics to those who lose limbs in combat as well as rehabilitation treatment. War amputees also receive payouts that vary according to the severity of the injuries. There is money available for servicing artificial limbs and individuals can raise funds privately or through charities for advanced prosthetics such as bionic hands.

Nayyem, of soldiers' rights group Pryncyp, said the government was not doing enough to support amputees as they seek employment and that those initiatives that did exist were focused on the big cities.

"I mean, the state prioritized sending you to die, but didn't make it a priority to help you recover when you got injured," he said. "All the wounded feel this."

He added that the number of people affected by amputations, either directly or indirectly, would only climb as the war ground on with no end in sight.

Ukraine's Veteran Affairs Ministry, which oversees amputees, didn't respond when asked about criticism that it was not doing enough to support amputees, particularly over the longer term.

Oleksandr Revtiukh lost his left arm and most of his left leg in multiple mine blasts while fighting Russian forces during last summer's counteroffensive in the south, making a return to combat virtually impossible. See Wider Image photo essay:

While the traumas of the war remain, the 33-year-old is focusing on his future outside of the military. The former electronics technician, who enlisted to fight months after Russia's February 2022 invasion, wants to build a social media profile as a motivational boxing coach for fellow amputees.

"Don't be afraid to make mistakes," he said. "Look for a way out, there is a path through the thorns to the stars. This is my motto."

(Reporting by Thomas Peter, Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey and Vitalii Hnidiy; Additional reporting by Kate Holton in London; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Pravin Char)

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