Soldier Oleg Andrienko

Before the full-scale invasion, I had a completely peaceful civilian profession - I worked as a high-altitude installer, doing glass facade installation. But on the 24th of February 2022, like for most Ukrainians, my life was divided into BEFORE and AFTER.
 
On the morning of the 24th, when russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, I took my children and went to the village of Velykyi Karashyn, not far from the now famous Makariv. And on 26.02.2022, my friends and I joined the territorial defence in our village and started to stand guard at the posts. It was difficult to understand what to do because we had no communication, so we acted intuitively. The main goal was to stop the enemy at any cost.
 
On the 1st of March 2022, when my comrades and I were on duty, an enemy aircraft suddenly appeared and fired a missile at us. There was no time to think about whether to run for cover, at that moment I barely managed to fall to the ground. Unfortunately, two of my comrades were killed on the spot, and I was lucky to survive, but my lower limb was severely damaged. My friends took me to hospital in the only surviving car. To save my life, doctors had to amputate my left leg.

When I was in the hospital in Makariv, we were constantly shelled by enemy tanks and being shot at from machine guns. But despite the danger, my friends managed to take me home from the hospital to Kyiv, where my family was already waiting and supporting me. My relatives, especially my daughters, helped me cope with the trauma, because I had no right to sulk in front of them.

When the wound healed, I returned to work. There, I tried to distract myself from bad thoughts as best as I could.
 
One day, a friend called me and said that he had seen a post on Facebook - I had been posthumously awarded an order and joked: "You will live a long life!".
 
Then it was time to go for prosthetics.
 
I had prosthetics as a civilian. The amount of money allocated by the state for prosthetics for civilians is three times less than for the military. I faced a bureaucratic machine - I still have to prove that I was injured while performing a combat mission. There was no time to draw up military documents at the time. I was injured in the first days of the full-scale invasion, when the enemy was pressing from all sides, and everyone had only one goal - to hold it back.

Therefore, according to the state programme, I have the simplest prosthesis, which does not cover the needs of my daily life.
 
In addition, unfortunately, I had a negative experience during the prosthetics itself, namely the manufacture of the stump socket. It has already been reworked in Kyiv by other prosthetists, after which it became possible to use the prosthesis. However, I repeat that it is not sufficient for my active life.

Despite the mobility difficulties, I go in for sports myself and try to inspire other veterans who have also been seriously injured to recover by my own example. Now I am a coordinator of sports classes at Sport for All, and I actively train young people of all ages in cycling, volleyball, badminton, football, and tennis.

In the future, I dream of doing extreme sports - rope jumping.
 
At the moment, I need a more functional prosthesis to continue playing sports and train children and veterans. The prosthetists gave me an opportunity to test a prosthesis with the RHEO KNEE XC electronic knee unit. I felt an incredible difference from the «leg» I have and realised how active life with a prosthesis can really be.
 

Unfortunately, I do not have enough money to buy such a prosthesis, so I turn to the Citizen Charitable Foundation for help.
 

Thank you all for your support!!!

 

COLLECTED AND TRANSFERRED: UAH 570,204

 

Oleh received an OSSUR RHEO KNEE XC prosthesis with a knee unit that fully meets his needs and lifestyle, allows to actively engage in sports and train young people, thereby setting an example of resilience and active life after amputation for other severely wounded defenders.

The knee unit has microprocessor control and supports cycling, walking and stair climbing modes. The prosthesis system helps to avoid falls and stumbling during active use.

We thank our partner NGO Promote Ukraine for donating EUR 1000 to support Oleh's prosthetics. 

We thank the director of the cinema Simon Blaas, the general producer of the documentary ATHLETES OF WAR Gabriel Veras and the foundation's volunteer Iurii for organising a charity screening of the film ATHLETES OF WAR, which raised EUR 2,426.05 for Oleh's prosthetic treatment.