Soldier with amputated wrist ascends Mount Kazbek, climbs 5,000 metres in 2 days – video

Oleh "Shakh" Shakhov, a Ukrainian military serviceman, has climbed Mount Kazbek, which stands at 5,054 metres, despite losing his wrist to an injury. He was assisted by mountaineer Tetiana Yalovchak, who has scaled the seven highest peaks on all seven continents and six of the world’s tallest volcanoes.

Source: the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

Oleh Shakhov is a soldier from the 1st Company of the 2nd Assault Battalion. He participated in the battles for Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, where he sustained his first injury. However, he later returned to service and continued to fight the Russians in Orlivka, also in Donetsk Oblast. Six months ago, he lost his wrist in these battles.

Journalist Tetiana Danylenko said that mountaineer Tetiana Yalovchak had been looking for a companion to climb the mountain for a long time. The companion had to be a military serviceman who had experienced an amputation. However, for a long time, no one agreed due to the potential risks.

They then began searching among the wounded soldiers of the 3rd Assault Brigade and Azov Brigade of the National Guard. 

Quote: "Within an hour, three dozen soldiers who had undergone amputations [said they] wanted to go with Tetiana to the edge of the planet. And after a day, there were more than fifty!" Danylenko shared.

They planned to spend five days ascending the Georgian stratovolcano of Kazbek. However, the climb actually took much less time – just two days. 

Quote: "It was sometimes freezing, sometimes hot, at times so foggy that you couldn’t see a thing – and then sunny, making it feel like my face was burning. Without [a proper] acclimatisation and sleep, it was difficult, but we managed! I had headaches and felt nauseous. The weather was worsening, we couldn't wait, so we ascended in two days," the soldier recounted.

"His character, strength, and willpower are impressive. This was Oleh's first time in the mountains, and he reached the summit without proper acclimatisation. It was hard, but he kept telling himself, 'I’m from the 3rd Assault Brigade…' and kept moving," Tetiana Yalovchak wrote.

Oleh Shakhov dedicated his ascent to the fallen soldiers. 

"We remember each of you. I swear, comrades, there hasn't been a day when we went to sleep without thinking of someone. We will see this through to the end," Shakhov stressed at the summit of Kazbek.

Background: Andrii Solomin, a veteran from Lutsk, Ukraine’s northwest, lost both of his legs on the front line and survived clinical death. Just a few months after rehabilitation, he participated in the Run for Two sprint remembering his fallen friend and comrade-in-arms.

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