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In the city of Boryslav, Lviv region, Ukraine’s first winter adaptive sports center for male and female war veterans with lower-limb amputations has begun operating at the Bukovytsia ski resort.
During the first open training sessions, veterans learned the Three-Track Skiing technique — skiing on one ski using two outriggers — under the guidance of alpine skiing instructors, physical therapists, and veterans who completed certified training in the United States.
Going forward, within the Hub, veterans will receive ongoing free access to the Bukovytsia ski infrastructure, modern adaptive equipment, adaptive skiing lessons from professional instructors, and peer-to-peer mentorship.
According to Oleksandr Shvachka, veteran and president of the Alliance of Veterans organization, the creation of the Hub at the Bukovytsia ski complex is one of the stages in developing a large-scale infrastructure for the physical and psychological rehabilitation of Ukrainian veterans through adaptive alpine skiing.
By prior arrangement, journalists may cover the activities of the hub.
For reference: The Hub was initiated by the public organization “Alliance of Veterans” as part of the Adaptive Skiing for Veterans project, with the support of the Bukovytsia ski resort, the charitable foundation Razom for Ukraine, and the Boryslav City Council.
On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion, Lviv will traditionally honor the memory of fallen Ukrainian defenders. On the evening of February 23, beams of remembrance will illuminate the sky above city cemeteries as a symbol of gratitude, sorrow, and enduring memory.
This year, the beams will shine over five fields of honorary burials. A joint prayer and the lighting of memorial candles will also take place.
Together with international partners, temporary housing has been arranged in Lviv for internally displaced people who require special services and care. The facility is designed to accommodate 70 residents.
The building includes 17 rooms, three kitchens, two children’s playrooms, accessible shower rooms, and a laundry room. It is also equipped with an elevator to allow movement between floors. The housing operates on a dormitory-style model, with individual rooms for each family and shared kitchen and bathroom facilities.
The premises have been renovated in line with the highest standards of accessibility and inclusivity, including accessible bathrooms and ramps. Work on improving the surrounding outdoor area is still ongoing.
Currently, 21 residents have already moved in, including five children and 10 people with disabilities, among them a veteran who uses a wheelchair. The residents are displaced persons from the Donetsk region — Bakhmut, Chasiv Yar, Horlivka, and Avdiivka; from the Dnipropetrovsk region — Nikopol; from the Zaporizhzhia region — Polohy; as well as from Mykolaiv and Kharkiv.
On February 14 and 15, Ukrzaliznytsia will launch Romantic Express trains for Valentine’s Day. They will traditionally operate in Kyiv and Lviv.
Tickets for the Romantic Express can be purchased via the Ukrzaliznytsia app. For military personnel, tickets are also available through the Army+ app.
The Romantic Express trains will depart twice a day. The journey will last more than two hours and will begin and end at the Central Railway Station. The train will be led by a real steam locomotive. Couples will spend their time in a brand-new luxury carriage, in a private compartment for two, accompanied by romantic music.
Serhii Zhukovskyi, 43, hails from the Zaporizhia region. Despite his childhood dream of becoming a soldier, he initially faced hurdles when got a medical certificate determining his unfitness for military service. However, when his hometown faced a full-blown invasion, Zhukovskyi and his family evacuated before it was occupied. In the Lviv region, he eventually enlisted with the 80th separate airborne assault brigade after encountering delays at the military enlistment office. His first injury occurred during the storming of Serebryany Forest, where shrapnel lodged near his spine. Despite medics’ unsuccessful attempts to remove a dangerous object from his body, the man persevered and returned to the front line after his wound healed. In the summer of 2023, serving with the 82nd Brigade, he sustained severe injuries from a mine explosion, resulting in the loss of both arms. His wife took on the task of finding the top rehabilitation centers in Ukraine, eventually leading him to the Halychyna and the Superhumans rehabilitation centers in the Lviv region. Following his prosthetic journey, the veteran received training in launching veteran-owned businesses, to which Serhii readily agreed. Subsequently, he successfully brought to fruition an idea conceived during his time on the front lines: crafting jerkies, pre-marinated and dried slices of meat. The business, named Sushena Radist (Dried Joy), was coined by Serhii’s eldest son, Ivan. It’s not just a veteran’s enterprise but also a family affair, with his wife, Daryna, handling the bulk of the work.
Reporters welcome to seize the chance to interview Serhii Zhukovskyi in Lviv.
For context: The Sushena Radist veteran-owned enterprise emerged as a facet of the initiative “Reintegration of War Veterans through the Creation of Educational Opportunities,” spearheaded by DVV International in Ukraine and backed financially by the German Federal Foreign Office.
On February 1, Valentyn Oleksiienko, a 29-year-old veteran and patient at the UNBROKEN Center, will take to the floor in a wheelchair to perform at the UKR DANCE CUP sports ballroom dancing competition.
A frontline defender who suffered a complete spinal cord injury in an accident at the front, leaving him with no feeling in 70% of his body, Oleksiienko continues to push boundaries despite the permanent nature of his injury. He has already made headlines by learning to paint from his wheelchair, a technique that earned him a place in the Ukrainian Book of Records as the first artist to work that way. He later mastered driving an adapted vehicle. Now he’s embracing dance as his latest challenge.
Oleksiienko will perform an exhibition piece alongside his partner, Daria Bilous. Their routine is one of three special performances featuring Ukrainian war veterans who have sustained amputations or other severe physical disabilities.
The veterans’ appearances are part of a charity initiative organized by the UKR DANCE CUP organizers in partnership with the UNBROKEN charity fund. Proceeds will support the rehabilitation of children treated at Unbroken KIDS, the pediatric department of St. Nicholas Hospital who have been affected by the war.
For reference: The UKR DANCE CUP, a prominent sports ballroom dancing tournament, was originally launched in Kharkiv in 2014. After a three-year suspension due to russia’s full-scale invasion, the event has resumed in Lviv.
Journalists wishing to cover the competition must be accredited in advance.
Mykhailo Varvarych joined the Ukrainian military in 2016. He served in the 80th Separate Air Assault Brigade, defending eastern Ukraine. He was supposed to return to civilian life in February 2022, but due to the start of the full-scale invasion, he continued his service.
On May 29, 2022, while on a combat mission in the Luhansk oblast, Mykhailo sustained severe injuries, losing both legs and severely damaging his arm. After treatment and rehabilitation, the veteran learned to use prosthetics and married his fiancée, Iryna. The couple faced profound joy and tragedy when their daughter, Martusia, was born in December 2024, only to pass away three months later in March 2025.
Now, Mykhailo and Iryna share their ongoing journey through social media, offering an intimate look at their life, their struggles, and their hard-won perspective on maintaining hope.
You can connect with Mykhailo and Iryna Varvarych online or in person in Lviv by prior arrangement.
A cutting-edge training and production prosthetics workshop at Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, the biggest of its kind in Europe, has kicked off full-time operations.
The prosthetics microclinic and training-production workshop emerged as a joint effort in Lviv, backed by the Ukrainian and French governments. “The French firms Resilience Orthopedics and Expertise France played a key role in bringing this to life. The project totaled €2.47 million,” said Nataliya Matolinets, vice-rector at Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University and a professor.
Equipped with 20 3D printers, the workshop can churn out up to 600 prostheses each month. It opened its doors in the fall of 2025, with partners supplying a complete stock of materials for prosthesis manufacturing by year’s end.
“Our workshop at the University Hospital in Lviv serves as the primary hub for producing prostheses. We’ve set up micro-clinics in Poltava, Vynnyky, and Kyiv to spare patients the long trip to Lviv for fittings – they can now get measured conveniently anywhere in Ukraine. We’ll be expanding the number of these micro-clinics down the line,” said Olena Shevchenko, head of the Rehabilitation and Prosthetics Clinic at the Lviv National Medical University Hospital.
Patients get their prostheses at no cost. They visit a micro-clinic for a scan of their stump, after which the data is printed, yielding a ready socket in 18 to 20 hours. It’s then cleaned, polished, and prepped on-site for the patient. They start with a trial prosthesis; if it fits comfortably without issues, a permanent version follows the same process, complete with a carbon coating. Under the project, 16 Ukrainian specialists have received training to help patients recover swiftly and get back to everyday life.
Journalists can arrange in advance to report on the prosthetics workshop’s operations and speak with experts in Lviv.
For the third consecutive year, soldiers undergoing treatment, prosthetic fitting, and rehabilitation at the UNBROKEN Center in Lviv are marking Christmas in the Ukrainian tradition – gathered around a shared table with traditional dishes, carols, and a nativity scene. This year, the nativity play has emerged as the central symbol of the holiday, blending the sacred and the everyday, pain and hope, history and the lived reality of war.
At UNBROKEN, the nativity scene is conceived as a fully developed theatrical production, carefully shaped with the audience’s traumatic experiences in mind. The production is directed by Igor Bilyts, chief director of the Maria Zankovetska Theater, who views the nativity scene as a distinctive form of folk theater in which the sacred naturally coexists with the mundane, and timeless archetypes remain recognizable across generations.
Among the performers is Mykhailo Fatieiev, a soldier with the 103rd Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces who sustained a severe spinal injury on the front lines. During rehabilitation, Fatieiev has turned to writing plays, painting, and acting in stage productions, including Sam na Sam (“Alone with Myself”), a performance based on his own text.
Sharing the stage is Valentyn Oleksienko, a tank driver from the Kyiv region who survived a complete spinal cord injury. After months fighting for his life and nine months of daily rehabilitation, he appears in the production not in pursuit of a role, but for the experience of presence – a sense of support and shared rhythm. According to the director, this is where the strength of theatrical practice for veterans lies: the chance to simply be themselves, without the need to explain or prove anything.
This year’s Christmas dinner for veterans will be held on December 26. On December 27, the nativity scene will be performed on Lviv’s Rynok Square and will be open to the public.
Media representatives must be accredited to attend the event.
For reference: The Ukrainian nativity scene is among the country’s oldest and most intricate forms of folk theater. First mentioned in the 17th century, it was initially performed by members of the Kyiv and Lviv brotherhoods and students of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Over time, it evolved as a puppet theater, a live dramatic performance, and a Christmas ritual – all at once.
An interactive installation highlighting the dangers of human trafficking will be unveiled in Lviv on December 23 as part of a nationwide awareness campaign led by the International Organization for Migration.
The International Organization for Migration Mission in Ukraine is continuing its countrywide information drive against human trafficking and exploitation under the campaign “Sound Familiar?” Lviv will become the second city to host the installation, designed to help visitors recognize warning signs of exploitation, identify risky situations, and learn where to seek assistance.
The following guests are invited to participate in the event:
– Rigoberto Mesa, IOM Ukraine’s Head of Programmes (Humanitarian);
– Khrystyna Zamula, Deputy Head of the Lviv Regional State Administration;
– Volodymyr Kopotiuk, Deputy Head of the Migration Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Lviv Region;
– Tetiana Krut, Director of the Department of Social Protection of the Population of the Lviv Regional State Administration;
– Oksana Yezerska, Head of the Western Interregional Department at the State Labour Service of Ukraine;
– Dmytro Shvets, Rector of Lviv State University of Internal Affairs;
– Taras Podvirnyy, Representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights in Lviv Region;
– Olena Kalbus, Head of the Preventing and Combating Human Trafficking at the Center for Women’s Perspectives.
Journalists wishing to cover the event are required to register by 5 p.m. on December 22. Accreditation will require a passport or ID card and a valid editorial certificate.
For reference: The “Sound Familiar?” campaign is implemented by the International Organization for Migration in Ukraine with funding from the Government of Sweden. The initiative is carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine, the National Social Service of Ukraine, the National Police of Ukraine, and the All-Ukrainian Counter-Trafficking NGO Coalition.
The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the risks associated with human trafficking and exploitation and to inform potential victims about available support services. These include the National Toll-Free Counter-Trafficking and Migrant Advice Hotline, reachable at 527, as well as the website www.stoptrafficking.org, where individuals can seek advice and submit requests for assistance.
