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One soldier told Sky News: “Not a day, a minute I regret voluntary service. Yes, it was dangerous, but I will never regret my decision.” For him, the country is family and he wants to join as soon as possible combat troops.
go through Host Mark Austin and producer Nick Stylianou in Kiev
Wednesday 22 February 2023 at 16:24, UK
Dmytro Skomoroh, a parliamentary officer turned volunteer soldier, was brutally devastated by the war.
The 50-year-old arrived on crutches at the Kyiv Wearing his camouflage jacket emblazoned with his nickname: “The Ice Demon”.
Dmytro lost the lower part of his left leg when he stepped on a land mine while rushing to rescue a fellow soldier who was also killed in an explosion in Kreminna, Donbas, in December .
There are only nine such prosthetic clinics in the country, but at this one in Kiev, 68-year-old Volodymyr Federov made custom molds for Dmytro.
He has been making prosthetics for 43 years – first for Soviet troops wounded in Afghanistan. But he said he has never crafted so much as he has over the past few months.
The clinic claims that 60 percent of Ukraine’s amputee soldiers are returning to combat.
There are photos and videos shared with us of soldiers in the trenches happily posing with their new limbs.
Looking at the assortment of feet and knees scattered around the clinic, it’s hard to imagine them clashing with Vladimir Putin’s troops anytime soon.
Dmytro’s sacrifice was painful, but he said it was worth it.
‘No regrets’
“I don’t have a day, not a minute that I regret volunteering. Yes, it was dangerous, but I will never regret my decision,” he said.
For him, the country is family and he wants to join the combat forces as soon as possible.
His wife Natalia was by his side, holding his hand and telling us he would be back, “even if I just had to serve the kids food, cook for them, do their laundry”.
She backs him: “It’s his decision. Someone has to do it. If God needs him to go to war, then it should be.”
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Enlisted soldiers are also here.
Some Ukrainian special forces are continuing their rehabilitation – and Mariia Yeremenko, a physiotherapist, encourages them to take another step through the pain.
She is inspired, but also determined, by these men who have witnessed unspeakable horror.
We see a man wounded by mortar fire in Bakhmut, worried not about his injuries but about getting back to the front lines.
More soldiers arrived, some on crutches and some in wheelchairs — all missing a vital limb but eager to move forward in their recovery.
Another Dmitro – nicknamed “The Shark” – has served in the military since 2013 and graduated from the country’s military academy.
He is 27 years old and has nothing below his right thigh.
On September 6, a shell exploded beside him and he was wounded while defending the city in Kharkov.
His fiancée, Anhelina, and his parents were in Dnipro, but they moved across the country to be by his side when he was transferred to a military hospital in Kiev. He just said, “I did my job.”
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Nataliia is using her phone to record every step her husband takes with his new prosthetic.
He stood up straight and proudly and firmly began his long road to recovery, starting with a straight line of a few meters, supported by wooden railings.
We ask the Ice Devil one final question – can Ukraine win?
“Not only can win, but will win. There is no other choice here.”
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