29-year-old serviceman Volodymyr Ponomarchuk from the Mykolaiv region is undergoing treatment and rehabilitation for the third time at the UNBROKEN centre, based at the First Medical Association of Lviv. After three wounds, including a leg amputation, he is once again recovering and preparing to return to the front line.
Volodymyr has served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine for more than ten years. He signed his first contract at the age of 18, following the example of his elder brother and uncle, who went to defend Ukraine back in 2014, at the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
He began his combat path in the Mariupol sector as a rifleman in the 21st Separate Motorised Infantry Battalion. Within a year he sustained his first gunshot wound. Later he trained as an artillery gunner and continued his service in the 40th Separate Artillery Brigade, with which he faced the full-scale invasion and took part in the Kharkiv counter-offensive. Afterwards, the serviceman mastered another specialism — heavy bomber drone operator.
Volodymyr suffered his most severe wound late last summer in the Kupiansk sector. During one of the combat missions he stepped on an anti-personnel mine. After surgery in hospital he learnt that his right leg had been amputated. It was hard to come to terms with, but the support of his wife and subsequent rehabilitation at UNBROKEN helped him adapt to the new reality.
At the UNBROKEN centre the serviceman received a prosthesis and a course of physical rehabilitation. He recalls seeing other patients with prosthetic limbs and setting himself the goal of getting onto his new leg and walking independently as soon as possible.
After completing that stage of treatment, Volodymyr was offered the chance to continue his service in a rear position, but he refused and returned to combat duty. The defender joined the 411th Separate Unmanned Systems Brigade ‘Yastruby’ (Hawks). It was with this unit, on the way back from positions in the Zaporizhzhia sector, that he sustained his third wound: the pickup truck carrying the soldiers hit an anti-tank mine. The vehicle was destroyed, and Volodymyr suffered a concussion and ruptured eardrums.
After this, the soldier once again found himself at UNBROKEN. He is currently undergoing a course of hearing rehabilitation and working with a physical therapist to improve his mobility and walking technique with the prosthesis. At the same time, Volodymyr continues to support his brigade by organising fundraising for new vehicles, as the unit recently lost several at once — one was blown up by a mine, another destroyed by an FPV drone.
“The fight goes on. We are at war, and I must defend my country. I have seen a great deal. People are losing their homes, their loved ones. War is pain for every Ukrainian. We did not start this war, but we will finish it” — Volodymyr Ponomarchuk
At the UNBROKEN centre, every patient affected by the war receives comprehensive support in one place. A multidisciplinary team works with both military personnel and civilians: surgeons, trauma specialists, prosthetists, psychotherapists and rehabilitation experts. This makes it possible to combine treatment, prosthetics and psychological support without the need to turn to several different institutions.
After completing his current course of rehabilitation, Volodymyr Ponomarchuk plans to return to his comrades on the front line. He does not consider any other option for himself.