"His worst nightmare came true": the story of a soldier who made it out of a burning tank
Before the full-scale invasion, Illia Pylypenko, a 30-year-old Ukrainian soldier from the city of Vinnytsia, was an estate agent.
Illia lost his leg and suffered burns to 30% of his body after being seriously wounded at the front, and now he wants to help his seriously wounded comrades, says the First Medical Association of Lviv.
As a civilian, he would work, and in his spare time, he loved sport. Boxing and running were among his favourite activities.
When Russia launched the full-scale invasion, Illia voluntarily joined the army and ended up as a tank driver and mechanic.
Illia says any tanker’s worst nightmare is to burn alive in his own combat vehicle. Unfortunately, that nightmare nearly came true for him.
It was early September, and Illia and his comrades were deployed near Kherson. Suddenly his tank stumbled upon some mines.
When Illia came to his senses, everything around him was on fire. Despite burns and an open fracture in his leg, he managed to escape the fire trap on his own.
Illia crawled away from the tank and began putting out the fire in his boots, which had been on fire the whole time. He was given first aid by his comrades.
Medical experts later found that the fire had burned 30% of his body.
The tanker underwent three skin grafts and multiple blood transfusions during the two months he spent in the burns unit.
He lost his right leg due to injury, and a prosthesis was fitted in its place.
Illia now dreams of joining the prosthetics team at the Unbroken National Rehabilitation Centre so that he can help other people like him.
Background: Medical staff in Lviv operated on the soldier for 10 hours to save his leg.
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