"War should not be romanticised": story of a soldier who lost his foot after stepping on a landmine
Serhii Yevtushenko, a 34-year-old serviceman who lost his foot after stepping on a landmine in June of this year, is undergoing rehabilitation in Lviv.
Two months after the injury, Serhii was fitted with a prosthesis, reports the First Medical Association of Lviv.
Serhii was born and raised in the village of Tynne, Rivne Oblast. Until 24 February 2022, he was a builder, but on that day, he decided to change his profession and voluntarily joined the territorial defence forces.
For the first year, he served in his native region on the border with Belarus. In April of this year, he transferred to the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, which is fighting in one of the hottest spots, particularly on the Bakhmut front.
Serhii was wounded there on 13 June.
"We were going to change the current shift. A fellow who was walking in front stepped on a mine. I ran up to help him and didn't notice that there was another mine right next to him. One wrong move, and I get caught out too.
I remember every second. I hear a click, and all the earth flies up with me. When I came to, I saw that there were no toes on one of my feet," Serhii says.
Serhii put on a tourniquet himself and crawled to the evacuation point.
Then there were three hospitals, in each of which surgeons tried to save the soldier's limb, after which he was sent to Lviv.
"Serhii came to us in a serious condition with signs of infection in his foot and lower leg. After an examination by doctors, in order to avoid the spread of infection, a decision was made to repeat the amputation of the left lower limb," says hospital surgeon Vladyslav Bohutskyi.
Read also: "His worst nightmare came true": the story of a soldier who made it out of a burning tank
Eventually, the wound healed successfully, and the man was able to try on an artificial limb.
After learning to walk on his prosthesis, the soldier wants to visit his brother-in-arms who stepped on a landmine in June with him and who lost both limbs. After that, Serhii intends to return to the army.
"War should not be romanticised. War is the smell of burning human flesh and pain," the soldier added.
Previously: A serviceman seriously wounded in mid-February 2023 when a bullet became lodged near his heart has recovered and returned to the front.
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