Whole body paralysed: story of former musician seriously wounded on front line

Five months ago, as he was carrying out a combat mission near the village of Mariinka, Donetsk Oblast, Oleksandr stepped on a Russian landmine. The device exploded, leaving the soldier seriously wounded and paralysing his whole body. 

Source: Ukraine's Ministry of Health

Details: Before the full-scale invasion, Oleksandr, 37, was a musician.

After 24 February 2022, Oleksandr decided to join the army, and during his eighth month of service, he stepped on the Russian landmine, suffering shrapnel wounds to his neck.

"The defender’s comrades evacuated him under fire – they dragged him for 2 km to a safe place, then took him to a military hospital, where it was found that he had a spinal cord injury in the cervical spine," the Ministry of Health says.

Oleksandr's treatment started in the intensive care unit of a hospital in the city of Dnipro. Then he was sent to Kyiv for treatment.

He is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the Ternopil Oblast Clinical Psychoneurological Hospital.

At first, the soldier could not walk or sit up. He had difficulty breathing and could not move his limbs.

For the last five months, he has been spending 4-5 hours a day learning to sit up, walk and move his limbs again.

"In the last five months, Oleksandr and our team of specialists have done titanic work," the hospital said.

Now he can sit up independently, move from a wheelchair to a bed, and eat; with the help of a physiotherapist, he walks about 100 metres a day, and he is also learning to write.

We previously reported on a soldier from Donetsk Oblast who took a bullet next to his heart but returned to the front.

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