Finalist: Russia Ukraine War: Amputee Soldiers
A narrative picture story that explores an important social, economic, or political issue.
Oleksandr Ivanov, a 41-year-old Ukrainian serviceman, learns to walk at the rehabilitation center in St. Panteleimon hospital in Lviv, Ukraine, Monday, July 24, 2023. Ivanov was in the Zaporizhzhia region when he was injured in the head and right side on June 5, 2022, in a mine explosion. Ukraine is facing the prospect of a future with upwards of 20,000 amputees, many of them soldiers who are also suffering psychological trauma from their time at the front.
Ukraine is facing the prospect of a future with upwards of 20,000 amputees, many of them soldiers who are also suffering psychological trauma from their time at the frontlines. There are not nearly enough prosthetic specialists in Ukraine to handle the growing need, said Olha Rudneva, the head of the Superhumans center for rehabilitating Ukrainian military amputees. Before the war, she said, only five people in all of Ukraine had formal rehabilitation training for people with arm or hand amputations, which in normal circumstances are less common than legs and feet as those sometimes are amputated due to complications with diabetes or other illnesses. Rudneva estimated that 20,000 Ukrainians have endured at least one amputation since the war began. The government does not say how many of those are soldiers, but blast injuries are among the most common in a war with a long front line. Rehabilitation centers Unbroken and Superhumans provide prostheses for Ukrainian soldiers with funds provided by donor countries, charity organizations and private Ukrainian companies.
