Themes by tag: Lviv

Mykola Shot joined Ukraine’s Defense Forces in March 2022, serving with the Kholodnyi Yar Brigade. In February last year, he suffered severe injuries near Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, resulting in the loss of both his arms and legs.

For several months, Mykola has been adapting to prosthetic limbs with the support of specialists at the UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center in Lviv.

Despite his injuries, he remains active and focused on competing in the Paralympic Games. He is now awaiting specialized running prosthetics to begin training for the competition.

• casualties
• military
• Lviv

The only pediatric burn center in western Ukraine that accepts the most critical cases will now be able to treat children at home – in Ukraine – instead of sending them abroad, as was previously the case. St. Nicholas Children’s Hospital in Lviv now has everything it needs to save young patients with severe burns. The grand opening of the updated pediatric burn center will take place on March 28.

Approximately 12,000 children in Ukraine suffer from burns every year. The war has exacerbated the situation, as any mine or explosion injury is often accompanied by severe thermal trauma.

St. Nicholas Hospital is now fully equipped to care for pediatric burn patients, with advanced and expensive intensive care equipment, a specialized burn bed, a dedicated treatment room, and a laser for post-burn scar resurfacing.

Patients will attend the opening, including Robert, a fifth-grader who tried to replicate a popular TikTok trend by making a homemade firecracker. As a result, he suffered severe chemical burns to his face.

At the opening, members of the media will have the opportunity to speak with Robert and other children who have suffered burns in a variety of circumstances – as well as their parents, doctors, and representatives from socially responsible companies. Prior to the official opening, journalists will also have the opportunity to attend a training session led by the hospital’s burn surgeons for Lviv schoolchildren. The training will teach first aid for burns and raise awareness about the dangers of TikTok trends.

Registration is required for the event.

• casualties
• children
• doctors
• Lviv

In the Lviv Oblast, soldiers with amputations are taking part in a specialized cycling rehabilitation program. This initiative offers the defenders a unique opportunity to reintegrate into active life, regain their physical fitness, and experience the freedom of movement once again.

The sessions are led by a physical therapist, and the bicycles used in the program were generously donated by benefactors from the Netherlands. The inaugural class saw 10 participants, including veterans with both upper and lower limb amputations, many of whom use prosthetics.

The next cycling rehabilitation session is scheduled for Saturday, March 29, in Lviv.

Journalists interested in covering the sessions are invited to attend by prior arrangement.

The program is being carried out through a collaboration between the “With an Angel on A Shoulder” Charitable Fund, the NGO “Sports Club Power of the Nation,” the State Noncommercial Enterprise “Center of Complex Rehabilitation ‘Halychyna’,” and the Lviv Municipal Art Center.

• casualties
• military
• Lviv

The team of the Bat Rehabilitation Center in Kharkiv, together with volunteers caring for bats in various cities of Ukraine, will dedicate the month of March to releasing these endangered animals back into their natural habitat. These are bats that have been rescued and cared for by volunteers throughout the winter.

The release events will take place in Kyiv on March 29 and in Vinnytsia, Lviv, Rivne and Chernivtsi on March 30.

• animals
• volunteers
• Chernivtsi
• Kyiv
• Lviv
• Vinnytsia
• Rivne

The sledge hockey team consists of 11 veterans with lower limb amputations. They practice four times a week at an ice rink in the Lviv oblast. This summer, the team will decide whether to compete in the 2026 World Championship.

Journalists can cover the team’s training sessions by prior arrangement.

Background: Sledge hockey, also known as Sled hockey, was developed in Sweden in the early 1960s specifically for people with physical disabilities. It became a Paralympic sport in 1994.

• casualties
• military
• Lviv

Before russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine, Mykola Hradnyi-Savytskyi worked in theater and film. He calls meeting his wife, Kateryna—also part of the arts community—a gift of fate. In April 2022, he decided to enlist, visiting multiple recruitment offices before finally joining a National Guard unit in Chernihiv.

Determined to serve in a combat role, Mykola soon transferred to the National Guard of Ukraine’s 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov, where he became a UAV operator. In March 2024, while operating near the Serebrianskyi Forest in Luhansk Oblast, he and his unit were caught under a collapsing concrete slab.

For four hours, his comrades worked to pull him from the rubble under enemy fire. Once freed, they waited another two hours for evacuation. Doctors had no choice but to amputate both of his legs. Throughout his treatment, rehabilitation, and prosthetic fitting, Kateryna remained by his side. She says the injury was not a tragedy for them—they always understood the risks of military service.

Mykola is now undergoing rehabilitation at the Superhumans Center in Lviv Oblast. 

The Hradnov-Savytskyi family is available for interviews both online and in person by appointment through their press officer.

• casualties
• military
• Lviv

On March 16, Ukraine will hold an annual event to honor the victims of the Mariupol Drama Theater tragedy. Mariupol residents and all those who remember are invited to light candles near theater buildings across the country in a tribute to those lost.

Commemorative gatherings will take place in Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Dnipro, Zaporizhia (March 15), Ivano-Frankivsk, Kalush, Lviv, Kyiv, Kamianske, Kremenchuk, Rivne, Ternopil, Uzhhorod, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, Kropyvnytskyi, Poltava, Kryvyi Rih, and Odesa.

Background: On March 16, 2022, russian forces dropped bombs on the Mariupol Drama Theater, despite the russian word for “children,” “ДЕТИ”(DETY), written in large, clearly visible white letters on the pavement outside the building. At the time, hundreds of Mariupol families were sheltering there, seeking refuge from relentless russian shelling. The attack claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians, including children.

The Mariupol Drama Theater has since become a harrowing symbol—of brutality and destruction, of Mariupol’s suffering, of Ukraine’s pain. It remains an enduring testament to a russian war crime the world must never forget.

• children
• dead
• russian crimes
• Dnipro
• Kyiv
• Lviv
• Odesa

In the Lviv Oblast, mountain hiking trips are being organized for defenders undergoing rehabilitation, including veterans with prosthetic limbs. These therapeutic hikes are arranged by the charity foundation With an Angel on a Shoulder.

Recently, the defenders climbed Mount Makovytsia and Mount Smerichok in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. The next hike is planned for mid-April.

Journalists can cover the mountain therapy by prior arrangement.

• casualties
• culture
• military
• Lviv

At the UNBROKEN Center in Lviv, defenders recovering from serious injuries are exploring a new form of rehabilitation—golf.

Participants have already completed three training sessions under the guidance of Volodymyr Shevchun, a certified trainer and rehabilitation specialist. Shevchun is actively developing this approach as a method of both physical and psychological recovery in Ukraine. He explains that golf engages various muscle groups while also helping to relieve stress, promote relaxation, and provide a mental escape.

The coach sees significant potential in golf as a rehabilitation tool for veterans. To expand the program, he is currently training three specialists at the UNBROKEN Center, preparing them to lead similar sessions for patients in the future.

• casualties
• military
• Lviv

A project by Lviv-based reproductive specialist and four-time Fertility Award winner Liubov Mykhailyshyn, “Preserve Your DNA for the Future,” offers free egg cryopreservation to 20 women in the military who risk their lives every day. The program is open to women between the ages of 21 and 41.

To date, 50 women have applied. Registration and consultations will continue until March 31, and the program will run until the end of 2025.

Journalists can arrange interviews with Liubov Mykhailyshyn in Lviv or online, and, if possible, with program participants.

Background: The “Preserve Your DNA for the Future” project is funded by a grant from L’Oréal Paris and UNFPA Ukraine (the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine).

Similar programs have been successfully implemented in the United States (Fertility Preservation Program) and Israel. According to American researchers, service members experience a significant decline in reproductive potential compared to control groups, even without physical injury. Chronic stress is a major contributing factor.

While sperm cryopreservation is a relatively quick and simple process for military personnel, egg freezing is more complex and requires an initial consultation with a reproductive specialist; controlled ovarian stimulation with specific medications; egg retrieval from the ovaries; cryopreservation and long-term storage of the oocytes.

• doctors
• military
• women
• Lviv