Oleksandr (he declined to give his full name for security reasons and due to military restrictions), an aviation engineer, was a member of the 250-member Ukrainian contingent of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). In March 2022, as the Russian-Ukrainian war escalated following Russia's full invasion of Ukraine, Oleksandr, along with other members of the Ukrainian contingent in Goma, was redeployed to his country to fight against the invading army.
However, less than a month after his return home, tragedy struck: Oleksandr lost his right leg in a missile attack (he refused to reveal the location of the attack for security reasons).
Asked how he felt living without a limb, Oleksandr said, “It’s difficult,” with a barely visible smile as he sat in a wheelchair tended to by his wife, Anna.
Oleksandr is one of 3,000 war victims who have been treated at the Superhuman Center in Lviv, Ukraine's sixth-largest city.
“I thought it would be easy, that I would just be given a prosthesis and start working. But the training on how to use a prosthesis has paid off,” he said.
Moments earlier, Petro Buryak, 41, a driver and double amputee, described how he lost his brother and both limbs while delivering supplies to soldiers on the front lines.
Petro Buryak (PHOTO CREDIT: Nicholas)
Following the full invasion, Mr. Buryak, a father of three, left his career as a long-distance logistics driver in Spain and enlisted in the army. He was immediately transferred to the 24th Brigade. On 6 September 2022, the car he was driving ran over a landmine and he and the three other occupants, including his brother, in the vehicle suffered serious injuries. Of the four occupants of the car, Mr. Buryak was the most seriously injured, as his body received a direct hit from the exploding mine.
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Buryak lost both legs and some fingers. Doctors initially thought that the Lviv native would not survive his injuries, but Buryak recovered. He was later transferred to the Superhuman Center, where he received a pair of bionic legs. After weeks of training and physical therapy, he can now do what he loves most: driving.
Although Mr. Buryak is burdened by the physical and psychological effects of the war (his brother, who was with him during the mine incident, returned to the front and was killed during an attack), he said he was grateful to be alive and can now continue to help the war effort, albeit in a non-combatant role.
“Of my 500-man battalion, only eight are still on active duty. Others have been killed or wounded. There is no fear anymore. I am a different person now, and perhaps crazier,” he said.
With the help of the trauma treatment he received at the Superhuman Center, Mr. Buryak has not only recovered, but has now started a charity, Unbroken Warriors, which supports the families of wounded and deceased soldiers by providing them with medical supplies and food.
Restoring mobility
Following the failure of its forces to take kyiv, Ukraine's capital, the Russian military has carried out relentless missile and drone attacks on cities across Ukraine, killing and injuring thousands of civilians.
Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines of combat have been killed or suffered life-altering injuries. Many of these victims require urgent, specialized medical care, which Ukraine's overstretched medical system has been unable to provide.
According to the State Office in Berlin, Germany, it is estimated that between 30,000 and 50,000 amputations have occurred in Ukraine as a result of the war. This alarming and growing number of amputees spurred Ukrainian businessmen and philanthropists Andrey Stavnitser and Philipp Grushko to action. As co-owners of TIS, Ukraine’s largest port, located near Odessa on the Black Sea, their business was one of the first to be affected by the Russian invasion. More than 5,000 employees were forced to evacuate when the port closed.
The duo’s original wartime philanthropic effort was to provide clothing to those affected by the war in Ukraine. But it soon became clear that they needed to focus on solving a more urgent, existential problem: Ukrainian soldiers were returning from the front without arms and legs, as were civilians injured by missile and drone strikes.
“Society should celebrate sacrifice and welcome differences; we can do this by offering Ukraine’s heroes first-class prosthetics and treatment free of charge in their home country and in their language. Yet the Ukrainian state is nearly bankrupt. Ukrainian hospitals, overwhelmed by complex injuries, are faced with problematic amputations that have only costly solutions. One soldier with an arm missing on the right side of his body and only two mutilated fingers on his left hand showed me a photo of the heavy wooden arm he was offered in kyiv. We had to get involved,” Stavnitser wrote in an article published by the Atlantic Council.
The Superhuman Centre, which opened in April 2023 with financial support from the Howard G. Buffet Foundation, is currently Ukraine’s main war trauma hospital. The facility includes a state-of-the-art facial prosthetics and reconstruction centre, a swimming pool with a hydrotherapy system and treadmills, and in-house production of prosthetics (designed by Ottobock, the world leader in orthopaedic technology), Andriy Ishchyk, the centre’s media director, told PREMIUM TIMES and other journalists.
“The centre receives 70 patients in various stages of recovery every day. The centre has received 2,500 requests from patients or their relatives through our website. Patients ask for their consent. We have performed 500 reconstruction surgeries, including facial and limb reconstructions, and 550 patients have been treated and discharged. Treatment at the centre is completely free of charge.
“We have manufactured 130 hand prostheses and 630 leg prostheses. Right now, 600 people are waiting in line to receive treatment and prostheses. They have passed the checks and are waiting for their procedures to begin.
“Since February 2024, we have performed 125 reconstruction operations and operated on 100 patients. Sixteen of the operations were performed with the help of renowned foreign specialists.”
He said these specialists also help the center produce prosthetics and train Ukrainian doctors and prosthetics specialists.
“They have conducted a number of training courses for surgeons because their services are in high demand. Many patients need these operations, but there are not enough skills and professionals to perform them. The aim is to train as many specialists as possible. There needs to be more centres like this and the centre plans to open more in Ukraine,” he said.
Heroes of great spirit
Oleksandr and his wife Anna (PHOTO CREDIT: Nicholas)
The atmosphere around the Lviv Superhuman Center is surprisingly pleasant for a center that treats war trauma patients. The inmates smile openly, joke and laugh out loud. It would be understandable to think that many of them grew up in the same neighborhood. However, the bond that unites them is their determination to defend their nation, which has been attacked by a military giant: Russia.
“We are a family,” Mr. Buryak said when asked about the remarkable camaraderie among the center’s inmates.
“I don’t see sadness here, but joy. I see our heroes returning to their usual lives. There are jokes and humor. I don’t see sadness, but joy. It’s hard to explain,” Ishchyk said.
“We have had this atmosphere from the beginning thanks to our superheroes. I don’t see any invalids here, I see superheroes. They were in hell, but now they are back. Sometimes I forget that they are wounded people,” he added.
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Although amputation is generally considered life-changing, superheroes do not consider themselves disabled, and if they have any regrets, they are mostly trivial.
Asked if he had any regrets, Oleksandr said it was accepting that he might never drive a manual car again. “I hate automatic cars,” he said.