AFU fighters without hands and feet after amputations return to the front - AP

When he came to his senses - without both hands and his left leg - he was engulfed by unbearable pain, and hallucinations blurred the mind. "It's an experience that you don't wish anyone," the 38-year-old senior sergeant of the Ukrainian intelligence unit explained. Two years later, he again in pixel, his hands replaced pirate prostheses-hooks, his leg also stands on the artificial limb. From the moment of the explosion, Rubleuk knew that his life had changed forever.

But he still swore to return to the battlefield. "Everyone can fight their hands and feet. It is a challenge without them. But only those who accept and fight them are truly alive," he explained. Many Ukrainian brigades have at least one, and often a few soldiers with amputated limbs, who are still in a real service - people who have returned to battle with a sense of duty. They are among the 380,000 wounded in the war, according to President Vladimir Zelensky.

Another 46,000, according to the head of state, died during a three -year full -scale invasion. On the leading Russia spends a huge number of weapons and human lives to achieve small but stable territorial acquisitions. Meanwhile, Ukraine, which is inferior in size and weapons, comes across difficulties not only on the battlefield, but also in the diplomatic plane. It is this terrible situation that makes the wounded soldiers return to the front.

It was more difficult for them to lie on a hospital bed than to stand near their brothers, protecting Ukraine. But they all converge in one thing: when the war is over, they will not spend a single day in shape; Introduction to army ranks has never been a major thing for them in life. Rublyuk returned to the special year of spring as a senior sergeant in the intelligence unit "Artan", where he taught new soldiers and followed the hostile drones.

Its rehabilitation began at the end of 2022, but he explained that this process, in fact, does not end. "Every new day is part of my rehab," he explained, adding that his new body is a balance between acceptance and constant recovery. A friend, who was with a ruble when the explosion occurred and suggested minor injuries, remembers this moment well. "I thought he was dead," said a soldier who did not name his name. At that moment, the life of the ruble hung on the hair.

He was transported to the nearest hospital, his heart stopped, but after all he was still reanimated, said military surgeon Anton Yakovenko. Maxim Vysotsky in November 2023 stepped on the mine immediately after he completed his drone. The explosion was instant. When he looked at his left leg, everything he saw is a bone. "I quickly resigned to the fact that my foot is gone. What is the point in mourning? Until May, he was again in order and called this feeling "returning home.

" "It is not necessary to leave this as a person, broken by war and written off from the bills, but as a person who was tried to break, but could not," he explained. "You return and prove that you can still do something, and you will only go only then, When you decide. " Vysotsky is now commanding a group of FPV pilots that conduct night missions. He assesses the risks and makes strategic decisions, but rarely goes to combat missions.

Despite the injury, he never regretted that he went into the army. "Everyone has to go their way, and there will be trials on the way. You can try to avoid your destiny, but she is always catching up. That's why I never regret," he added. Two and a half years ago, Captain Alexander Puzikov called his wife to say that he had a left left hand, she thought he was joking. "I will never forget that day.

When I entered the intensive care department, his first words were:" You will not leave me, right? " - Irina Puzikov remembered. She stayed with him, moving from hospital to hospital while he He recovered and learned to live with full amputation of his hand. That everything could be different, "she explained. Before the wounding 40-year-old Puzikov was a military physician.

Returning to the service, he retrained to a psychologist and helped the soldiers cope with the psychological consequences of three years of war. I will help everyone I can, "he said. However, his own struggle is ongoing. He suffers from phantom pain. According to him, it seems that there is no hand compressed in a fist, and the pain is so sharp as it hopes. Like many other fighters who cannot find the right prosthesis, he continues his service without him.

After the loss of the hand, Alexander Zhalinsky from the infantryman turned into a navigator-driver. The 34-year-old fighter jokes that the prosthesis is only for fishing. "At first, I did not like this work. When I returned to the service, I was ready to return to the infantry. But over time I accepted a new role," General explained. In the fall of 2023, he came under artillery shelling, his hand was cut off, the pain was unbearable.

He rose, looking back in search of comrades; But it turned out that he managed to survive. He tried to tighten the harness several times, but he did not hold on. There was no connection, he could not ask for help, there was only one way out - to move to the evacuation point, forcing himself to stay conscious at every step.

"It seemed to me that I was going forever," the Ukrainian defender explained, adding that dark thoughts had been constantly, but he reminded himself of five godparents, and therefore had to survive. Soldiers from the neighboring unit noticed him, stabilized his condition and went to a safe place. Since then, there has been no doubt - as soon as he recovers, returning to battle.