Themes by tag: casualties

The third international ophthalmic surgery mission, Vision for Ukraine, organized by the Christian Medical Association of Ukraine, is underway in Kyiv and Lviv. Three surgeons from the United States arrived in Ukraine to collaborate with local specialists on complex clinical cases.

Among the mission’s patients are military personnel who have lost sight in one or both eyes and part of their faces due to mine and explosive injuries. Organizers describe these free surgeries as unprecedented because surgeons use an innovative approach involving 3D implants to reconstruct eye orbits, jaws, and skulls.

Background: Since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Christian Medical Association of Ukraine team has conducted over ten international missions, providing free surgeries to more than 850 patients.

Arrangements can be made to speak with surgeons and patients in person in Lviv until June 20.

• casualties
• doctors
• military
• Lviv

The international forum Unbroken Justice will run for two days in Lviv, bringing together leading voices in law, human rights, and trauma recovery.

The program will begin on June 23 with a public discussion titled Justice and Time, featuring British legal scholar and author Philippe Sands alongside French psychoanalyst Beatrice Patsalides Hofmann. 

The following day, June 24, will mark the official opening of the St. Leo the Great Mental Health Center, the first facility in Ukraine specifically designed to support individuals who have endured captivity, torture, and psychological trauma. The center will also host a series of panel discussions exploring critical topics, including:

– Psychological support for victims of torture;

– Accountability for crimes against humanity;

– The prospect of establishing a tribunal for vladimir putin;

– Community resilience in the face of war. 

Among the featured speakers are neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Bjorn Berge, and Michele Goodwin, Linda D. & Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Constitutional Law and Global Health Policy at Georgetown University Law Center.

Ukrainian human rights defender and Armed Forces officer Maksym Butkevych, who spent two years and four months in russian captivity, will also take part in the discussions.

Advance registration is required to attend the event. 

• casualties
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• Lviv

“Wake Accessible” is a powerful initiative within the One Team Forces NGO community, brought to life thanks to the skill and commitment of the STAV14 cable wakeboarding parks teams.

The project’s mission is simple but inspiring: to prove that even an extreme sport like wakeboarding can be adapted for veterans on the road to recovery.

Since launching in the summer of 2024, over 150 military personnel and veterans have had the chance to try cable wakeboarding. Currently, about 20 participants are regularly training in adaptive wakeboarding.

Training sessions take place twice a week in Kyiv. Thanks to experienced coaches and specialized adaptive equipment, individuals who have lost limbs are able to ride the waves alongside others.

Journalists interested in covering the sessions can arrange access in advance.

For reference: One Team Forces community supports military members who served before or after February 24, 2022, and who have suffered physical injuries or psychological trauma as a result of russia’s armed aggression.

STAV14 is a growing network of wakeboarding parks across Ukraine, STAV14 is a leading force in making adaptive wakeboarding accessible, not just in Kyiv but throughout the country.

• casualties
• military
• Kyiv

A team of student inventors at Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute dedicates their free time to assembling ground drones designed to evacuate wounded soldiers from the frontlines.

The project was initiated by Dmytro Mamonov, an internally displaced person from Sloviansk. The device can support a weight of up to 120 kilograms and can cover more than 5 kilometers without recharging. Additionally, the drone is resistant to snow and mud, which is crucial for frontline conditions.

Currently, the students are manufacturing drones on request from the military. The technicians also involve first-year students in the production process so they can learn and help prototyping new designs.

Interviews with the team of student inventors are available either online or offline by prior arrangement.

• casualties
• Kyiv

Viktoriia Holovina served in the military for 33 years. She worked as a senior nurse at a military unit’s infirmary and later as the commandant of the Officers’ House in Vinnytsia, before the full-scale invasion. Her contract was set to expire on February 26, 2022, but following russia’s escalation into a full-scale war, retirement was no longer an option.

On July 14, 2022, a russian missile struck the Officers’ House. Viktoriia doesn’t recall the moment of impact, but remembers getting up from the ground while engulfed in flames. She began tearing off her burning clothes and tried to extinguish the fire using rainwater from a puddle. Using the last of her strength, she flagged down a car that rushed her to the hospital.

Viktoriia suffered burns covering 45% of her body. Miraculously, her face and hands were spared. The most severe injuries were on her lower back, and a shell fragment struck her temple. She spent two and a half months in intensive care. After being discharged, she struggled to come to terms with her new reality, until she took part in the Sculpted photo project, where she shared her story and revealed the physical aftermath of the explosion.

Following her injury, Viktoriia began making mochi, a traditional Japanese rice cake. She soon received her first orders, and now she teaches mochi-making professionally.

Viktoriia Holovina is available for interviews both online and in person in Vinnytsia, by appointment.

• casualties
• russian crimes
• women
• Vinnytsia

On June 12, Kyiv will host a screening of Generation, a film by director Marisa Nikitiuk and the Voices of Children Foundation, followed by a discussion exploring the lives of a generation shaped by war. The event is titled “A Generation Growing Up in War: What Challenges Do Children Face Today and How Can We Support Them?”

Generation is a collaborative project between Nikitiuk and the Voices of Children Foundation that seeks to view the war through the eyes of its youngest witnesses and give them a voice to share their experiences. The film was created with 14 teenagers who faced evacuation, forced relocation within Ukraine and abroad, the loss of social connections, and the struggle to adapt to unfamiliar surroundings, all while enduring life under russian occupation or on the frontlines.

Over five months, the teens participated in the “Storytelling in Film with Elements of Art Therapy” lab, working alongside a psychologist and learning scriptwriting under Nikitiuk’s guidance. Through this process, they processed their experiences and transformed them into personal stories on screen.

Speakers:

– Olena Rozvadovska, co-founder and Chair of the Board of the Voices of Children Foundation;

– Marysia Nikitiuk, screenwriter and director;

– Children featured in the film Generation. 

Moderator: Olha Birzul, journalist, editor, cultural manager, film program developer and curator, writer.

Organizers: NGO Docudays and the Voices of Children Charitable Foundation.

• casualties
• children
• culture
• Kyiv

The Voices of Children Charitable Foundation, with the support and cooperation of the Olena Zelenska Foundation, is launching a camp program for children affected by the war. This is the second joint initiative aimed at supporting children aged 10 to 15 who have experienced the traumatic effects of war. It specifically targets children from internally displaced families, military families, and those living in frontline or de-occupied regions.

The 2025 season includes four sessions throughout the summer, each designed for 56 children. The first session of the Voices Camp started on June 5.

The Voices Camp includes four key areas:

• Creative activities: workshops in drawing, music, theater, and other arts;
• Sports: team competitions, quests, and active outdoor games;
• Psychological training:  workshops in self-awareness, emotional intelligence development, and psychological resilience;
• Intellectual training: financial simulations, intellectual games, and thematic quests.

• casualties
• children

Andrii Novosad is a physical therapist by profession, though he had never worked in the field. When the full-scale invasion began, he started volunteering by making Molotov cocktails and weaving camouflage nets for the military.

One day, a friend who worked at a rehabilitation center called Andrii to tell him about the shortage of specialists working with severely wounded soldiers. Without hesitation, Andrii began working as a physical therapist. While working, he saw a soldier who had lost both hands being fed by his wife. This inspired Andrii to start thinking about adaptive devices that could help the wounded eat independently.

He discussed the problem with his parents, who are engineers and manufacture rehabilitation equipment. Together, they developed a prototype of adaptive tableware and gave it to soldiers for testing. The design includes two types of special cuffs — one with a fork and one with a spoon. Soldiers can put on and take off these utensils without assistance.

Currently, Andrii and his family provide them free of charge to those with double amputations or anyone in need.

You can contact Andrii Novosad online or in person in Lviv by prior arrangement.

• casualties
• doctors
• military
• volunteers
• Lviv

Before the full-scale invasion, Vladyslav Trotsiuk lived in Kherson and worked as an IT professional. On February 25, 2022, he evacuated his mother and sister from the city. While his family fled abroad, Vladyslav and a friend enlisted in the Defense Forces.

He served as a combat engineer, operating in the Kyiv and Donetsk regions. In the summer of 2023, he was wounded by a landmine. Vladyslav was transferred to Volyn for treatment. There, he met his future wife. Trotsiuk recalls seeing Maryna for the first time while lying on the operating table, she was working as a nurse. A month later, they met again, and have remained in contact since.

Following the injury, doctors were forced to amputate his leg. He later adapted to a prosthetic, proposed to Maryna, and in January 2025, the two were married.

Vladyslav Trotsiuk is available for interviews, both online and in person in Lutsk, by appointment.

• casualties
• military
• Lutsk

The latest rescue operation has brought 11 more Ukrainian children back from russian-controlled areas, thanks to the continued efforts of the Save Ukraine team and the support of the President’s Bring Kids Back UA initiative. Among those brought home are two orphans, two children of Ukrainian service members, and a family torn apart by war for nearly four years.

Marharyta, a defender with the Azov Regiment, spent more than three years in russian captivity. Her eldest son, also a soldier, left the besieged Azovstal plant with her. They were sent to different penal colonies, and for a long time, Marharyta didn’t know if her son was still alive. By chance, she saw him during a prisoner exchange, on the same bus. But she still had one wish left: to reunite with her youngest daughter, who had remained an infant under occupation. That dream has now come true. The mother is finally with her children again, and still can’t believe it’s no longer just a dream.

Ostap hadn’t seen his father, a Ukrainian soldier, in three years. His older brother, who fought alongside their father, was captured and spent 1,111 days in detention. He is now undergoing rehabilitation. For the first time in three years, Ostap was able to embrace both of them.

Anatolii, an orphan, was abducted after discovering ammunition in the woods. He was taken straight from a classroom, soldiers burst into the principal’s office, put a bag over his head, tied his hands, and dragged him to a basement, where he was beaten. Just one week before his 18th birthday, he received a draft notice. No one even considered his right to education. The occupiers gave him only one choice: to join a specific military unit. Fortunately, he was able to contact Save Ukraine in time.

Interviews with Save Ukraine representatives are available upon prior arrangement.

The rescue operation was made possible through the support of partners #WeAreAllUkrainians, Humanity Foundation, Reload Love, and the Joint Center for the Coordination of the Search and Release of Prisoners of War and Persons Illegally Deprived of Liberty as a Result of Aggression Against Ukraine. To date, Save Ukraine has returned 659 children, including 145 orphans.

• casualties
• children
• occupation
• russian crimes
• evacuation