2023-08-19 18:08:29
Direct latest news of the war in Ukraine
Along a bustling street in a western Ukrainian town, Denys Abdulin Take your first steps independently ever since he was severely injured and blinded while fighting against the invading russian forces over a year ago.
The 34-year-old ex-soldier, wearing black glasses and a white cane to guide himself, steps onto a busier stretch of sidewalk. His movements become tentative and tense. accidentally locks the path of a woman approaching an ATM to withdraw cash.
Like many other pedestrians, she responds with a sympathetic smile and politely steps to the side. Little by little, Abdulin walk 600 metersguided by a trainer who walks ahead of him with a bracelet of metal bells.
Five other Ukrainian military veterans overcame similar challenges while attending a training camp. rehabilitation for ex-soldiers who lost sight in combat. Over the course of several weeks, the men would learn to navigate the city of Rivne, prepare their own meals, and use public transportation on their own.
The daily tasks that you previously performed without thinking now require concentrationstrength and dedication.
“Everyone pays a price for freedom in Ukrainesaid Abdulin, who spent months confined to a hospital bed and rarely removes his dark glasses.
The war that broke out in Ukraine after the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022 has left tens of thousands of fighters dead on both sides. Muchsimos myes, both Ukrainian military and civilians who took up arms to defend their country, have been maimed or suffered other injuries that changed their lives irreversibly.
There are no statistics at this time on how many service members have lost their sight due to injuries sustained in the war, according to Olesia Perepechenko, executive director of Modern Sight (Modern Vision), the non-governmental organization that organizes the camp. But the demand for the program grows as the war approaches the one and a half year mark.
Over the course of several weeks, the veterans, accompanied by their families, reside in a rehabilitation on the outskirts of Rivne. Most receive their first walking sticks here, take their first walks through urban and natural environments without assistance, and learn to operate programs based on sounds to use cell phones and computers.
“Our goal is not to retrain them, not to change them, but simply to give them a chance to become independent and self-sufficient,” said Perepechenko, who is also blind.
Abdulin voluntarily joined the military when Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 18 months ago. Completing the 600-meter walk marked a new phase in his recovery. after the injuries he suffered when a mine went off a few meters behind him in Sieverodontesk, a town in eastern Ukraine now occupied by the Russians.
“I felt a flame coming out of my eyes,” he said of that day in May 2022. “I immediately realized that I had lost my eyes.”
“Of course, I expected everything, but going blind, I couldn’t even imagine,” continued Abdulin. “I thought I might lose an arm or a leg, and did not want to die at all. I never thought he would go blind. That’s why at first he was very difficult.”
In 2014, when Russia illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula and armed conflict broke out in the Donbs region of Ukraine, Perepechenko longed to be on the front lines to help in some way. His request to join the army was rejected, so he I decided to undertake a new mission: helping soldiers who have lost their sight to regain a sense of autonomy.
rehabilitation
Modern Sight held its first rehab camp in 2019, and has organized about 10 more since. However, only two camps have taken place during the war. Although there is a waiting list of 30 people for the next session, the main obstacle of the organization The financing is non-profit: holding each camp costs about 15,000 euros.
Abdulin spent nearly a year being treated for his injuries, which included a shrapnel-shattered jaw that also robbed him of his vision and left him with breathing and balance problems. His wife, Olesia Abdulina, returned with their two children from Lithuania.where the three sought refuge after the Russian invasion.
“His eyes were still very swollen, with bandages covered with cotton pads,” Abdulina said of reuniting with her husband at the hospital for the first time after months of separation. “It main thing is that you are aliveshe said she responded when he informed her that she would never see him again.
For the next few months, she spoon-fed him and rarely left his side. At the Modern Sight camp, both learn how to integrate his disability in his family life.
While Denys attends physiotherapy or cooking classes, Abdulina and other women with husbands or boyfriends in the program do their own training exercises. One of the purposes of camp is to remind couples that they are not “babysitters” but a partners life of his men, Perepechenko said.
During one such session, Abdulina is blindfolded and given a long cane. She feels the ground tentatively while another participant takes it hand in hand The purpose of the exercise is to help women better understand what their partners experience and need.
“We are still the same people. We have the same capabilities,” said Ivan Soroka, 27, who joined the ukrainian army the day Russia invaded, and attended the camp a second time. “We need to stand up, take control, and work to improve ourselves.”
expansive wave
A shell struck Soroka near Bjmut in August 2022, when he was barely the longest battle of the war began Until now. Russian forces eventually took the eastern Ukrainian city in May after more than eight months of heavy fighting.
“I lost my sight immediately, thrown by the shock wave. I felt like I was dying,” Soroka said. “I lay there for about two minutes. Then I realized that no, someone won’t let me go there. ” Recalling those moments, he implies that his fiancée Vlada, now sitting next to him, was the one who kept him alive.
The couple met when Soroka was participating in the defense of the kyiv region in the spring of last year. Their love blossomed quickly in the context of war. Before Soroka was posted to the Donetsk region in the summer, he proposed to Vlada. She agreed to marry him.
But soon after, the two of them were spending days and nights in a hospital instead of preparing for a wedding. The happy celebration that was postponed due to Soroka’s injury It is now scheduled for early September. After months of rehabilitation, she feels physically and psychologically strong.
“I’ve found that unless I get up on my own and start doing something, nothing will change,” he said.
The men and their partners spend camp breaks and nights in a garden pavilion on the grounds of the rehab center. prevails a calm atmosphere, occasionally interrupted by laughter and jokes from their time as soldiers.
When they leave the center, the men will know they have the tools to navigate the city, and they will have gained something equally crucial: a sense of community forged through shared experiences and common trauma.
One afternoon, after the day’s activities, the camp participants gathered in a courtyard to celebrate Oleksandr Zhylchenko’s birthday. I lost my sight late last year, although he did not share details about how it happened.
“I am drawing you into a circle, your family circle. There are about 50 of us here,” Perepechenko said, handing Zhylchenko a heart-shaped balloon in the yellow and blue colors of the Ukrainian national flag. “This is our collective heart”.
The trainers and trainees formed a circle and, one by one, shared their birthday wishes for the man of the hour. You give without worry. A bright future. Patience, trust, loyalty. A calm sky. The last wish was “victory for all of us and for Ukraine”.
Moved, Zhylchenko held the globe for a moment more and silently evoked his own wish. Then he released it, not seeing it rapidly ascend into the sky.
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