The Ukrainian amputees returning to the front to resist Russian advance
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[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.
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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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