Themes by tag: casualties

Ivan Soroka joined the ranks of the Defense Forces with the beginning of the full-scale invasion. On February 24, the military registration and enlistment office was recruiting soldiers for the 72nd Mechanized Brigade named after the Black   Zaporozhians, and Ivan joined them. He defended the village of Moshchun, Kyiv region, and later his unit was sent to the East. In August last year, an enemy mine exploded a few steps away from the soldier. His brother in arms died on the spot, and Ivan lost his sight. “Who needs me if I’m blind?” was Ivan’s first thought when he regained consciousness. This question was answered by his fiancée Vladyslava, whom Ivan met online in April 2022. The girl visited the wounded soldier in the hospital until he was discharged. All this time, the couple hoped that Ivan’s sight would recover, but this did not happen. And then in September, Ivan and Vladyslava got married.

• casualties
• military

What is more important: a prize in the competition or a participant’s personal achievement? And should we measure the effectiveness of the Games by the number of medals? These and other issues will be discussed on September 29 during a meeting in Kyiv.

Participants:

– Anastasiia Halaiko, Head of the Department of Veteran Sports at the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine;

– Ilona Voloshyna, national coordinator of the Invictus Games in Ukraine;

– Alina Frolova, founder of the Center for Strategic Communications “StratCom Ukraine”;

– Taras Kovalyk, head of the Come Back Alive Veterans’ Department 

– Olena Yanovska, head coach of the Invictus Games team;

– Ihor Krytsak, sports manager of the Invictus Games team;

– Maksym Zubov, member of the Invictus Games 2023 team;

– Volodymyr Tovkys, member of the 2023 Invictus Games team;

– Oleksandr Zozuliak, member of the Invictus Games 2018 national team;

• casualties
• military
• Kyiv

Svitlana Humeniuk is now the director of the Kolonshchyna Lyceum, a village in the Bucha district that went through the occupation. At the time of the full-scale Russian invasion, she worked as a Design and Technology teacher and a leisure-time activities teacher. 

At the end of February 2022, the occupiers encircled the village of Kolonshchyna. People were prohibited from leaving. Many civilians who tried to escape the occupation spent the night in the school.

Svitlana and three other teachers risked their own lives to help their fellow villagers: they joined the distribution of humanitarian aid and even delivery. All this was despite the shelling and enemy missiles. To somehow protect themselves from the occupiers, they wore white ribbons on their sleeves. In addition, some families with children, including students of the lyceum she now heads, took refuge in Svitlana’s house.

Ukraine’s Armed Forces liberated Kolonshchyna village in late March 2022.

The journalists are welcome to talk to Svitlana and other Lyceum teachers. Currently, the educational institution has  215 students.

As a reminder, Ukraine celebrates Teacher’s Day on October 1.

• casualties
• children
• occupation
• Kyiv

Pavlo Korniienko is 37. Before the full-scale invasion, he was in charge of educational and social welfare institutions in the Kyiv region. After the opal-out invasion outbreak, the man took up volunteer work and arranged help for residents of the capital outskirts. Once having visited Bucha and Hostomel, he was determined to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Together with his unit, he went to defend the Eastern Ukraine. A mine exploded on the “road of life” in Chasiv Yar, and the shrapnels hit Pavlo. The soldier’s head, torso, arms, and legs were injured. Pavlo was evacuated and taken to Lviv, where he continued his rehabilitation. Pavlo says that his spouse, who “is the meaning of his life,” helps him to keep fighting

• casualties
• military
• Lviv

TMS HUB is a sports area where military and veterans with amputation and injuries can practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Classes are free of charge. The project promotes sports rehabilitation and socialization of defenders. One lesson usually lasts an hour and a half.

The initiative was founded by Artem Kuzmich, a veteran of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Originally from Belarus, the man has been at the front since 2014. In 2019, he hit an enemy mine and lost his leg. Despite this, he won Brazilian jiu-jitsu championships in Ukraine, Europe, and Brazil.

• casualties
• military

Yehor Oliinyk is 20 years old. In September 2022, the soldier lost his leg to an enemy mine at the front. Immediately after getting injured, Yehor even neglected to apply a tourniquet just to avoid being captured. However, the thought of his parents waiting for him at home helped him come to his senses and stop the bleeding. After getting the prosthetic in the winter, the man was preparing to return to the front line. Now Yehor is serving with his fellow soldiers and jokes about himself: “I am just like everyone else, just modernized.”

For information: Yehor Oliinyk is at the front line. The soldier is ready to talk to journalists online and offline, by prior arrangement.

• casualties
• military

Yurii Furyk is a gymnastics coach. He has been training athletes and preparing master gymnastics competition winners for 30 years. When the full-scale war started, the man enlisted in the military without any hesitation and moved to the front line. Yurii defended Kherson, Bakhmut, and Soledar, where he got a leg injury that later led to suffering limb loss. The trainer and soldier took up the challenge of learning to use the prosthesis. A month ago, he returned to school in Kolomyia and went on teaching gymnastics to the students who supported him throughout.

• casualties
• military
• Ivano-Frankivsk

 On September 27, in Kyiv, the “Tribunal for putin” initiative will present two complaints to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court: one of them concerns places in Kharkiv region where Ukrainians were held captive and tortured, and the other one – extrajudicial executions of Ukrainians by the russian military. Human rights defenders argue that russia’s actions are crimes against humanity.

Participants:

– Hanna Ovdiienko, expert at the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, co-author of the complaint;

– Maksym Reviakin, expert at the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, co-author of the complaint;

– Vladyslav Dolzhko, lawyer at the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, co-author of the complaint;

– Yulia Polekhina, Coordinator of the Admissions Office of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union in Dnipro and Human rights group “SICH”;

– Nataliia Yashchuk, Project Management Coordinator at the Centre for Civil Liberties;

• casualties
• dead
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

The “Animal Rescue Kharkiv” NGO opened a contact rehabilitation center for cats “Little Prince.” Animals rescued from the war zone are rehabilitated there. In particular, the center has a contact room made to resemble a home as much as possible, where you can play with cats. According to the founders, it is a kind of rehabilitation and relaxation, both for the pets and for the people.

The room receives visitors 4 times a week. Everyone is welcome. Most of all, military personnel (who also participated in cat rescue) and children are invited there.

For reference: the “Animal Rescue Kharkiv” NGO team has been rescuing animals in the city and the region for more than 8 years. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, they have also been evacuating animals from the war zone and de-occupied settlements (Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson regions). Volunteers, in particular, provide emergency medical assistance to animals, give them temporary shelter and find old or new owners for the pets.

• animals
• casualties
• children
• military
• volunteers
• Kharkiv

Oleh Symoroz enlisted in the Defense Forces at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The man defended the Kyiv region as part of the Territorial Defence Forces, and later his unit went to Eastern Ukraine. In October 2022, while performing a combat mission, Oleh’s vehicle hit an enemy mine. The soldier lost both legs and suffered a severe jaw fracture. Oleh has become a bilateral above-the-knee amputee, surviving one of the most difficult surgical procedures for further leg prosthetics. However, the man has taken a responsible approach to his rehabilitation, managed to stand on his prostheses, and is already planning his return to the front line. Oleh is considering a combat position only, perhaps he will train to become a UAV pilot.

For information: Oleh is currently in Kyiv and available to talk to journalists in person.

• casualties
• military
• Kyiv