Soldier Volodymyr Sharun, call sign VOHA

I was mobilised in April 2023 to the A 1302 military unit. I was a grenade launcher in a fire support company in an infantry battalion. I defended our land in the Donetsk sector.

On the 10th of September, 2023, on the outskirts of the village of Klishchiyivka, while stationed at the position, I received a multi-fragment wound to my right leg as a result of a mortar attack. I remember how my right leg gave in after the landing of the mine. Realising that it was torn at the upper part of the thigh, I started to put a tourniquet on it as high as possible. But it immediately started to fall because the injury was very high. Luckily, I had two loyal comrades who came to my aid and managed to fix another tourniquet above the wound. It became clear to everyone that the injury was very serious.

After recovering from what had happened, my comrade radioed in that we had a heavy "cargo 300s".

In response, we heard that evacuation at that moment was impossible because of the danger in that area due to the shelling with cluster munitions.

Realising that time was running out and the severity of my wound, my comrades decided to carry me out of the position themselves to the point of evacuation. After the shelling, we set off. The evacuation point was about three kilometres away. For the first kilometre, the guys carried me without stopping. When we stopped for a few seconds to rest, I felt pain in my left leg. My comrades examined me again and without saying a word put a tourniquet on my left leg as well.

I asked them what was wrong, and they answered: ‘Just a small scratch’. Understanding possible consequences of the tourniquets, I said that they could have applied a haemostatic bandage. What I heard was: ‘You need a tourniquet there!‘ Then I realised that it was not just a scratch.

In fact, my left buttock and shin were also torn by the debris. After making another stop, I loosened the tourniquet on my left leg a little bit and tightened it back. As it turned out later, I saved my left leg by doing so. Unfortunately, the right one was already beyond saving.

When we arrived at the site, I was immediately taken to the urgent cases station. All this time, I was in a clear mind, adequately perceiving the situation. I understood that I was seriously wounded, but alive. At the stabilisation centre, doctors examined me and told me that my right leg could not be saved. I agreed to its amputation and lost consciousness.

I regained consciousness in the intensive care unit at Mechnikov Hospital. They stabilised my condition after the injury and amputation of my leg, and then transported me to the Kyiv Military Hospital by an emergency bus, where I underwent numerous surgeries. Thanks to our medics, my condition began to improve. Thanks to my comrades, I survived.

Later I was transferred to a hospital in Lviv, where my treatment continued.

Now I am undergoing rehabilitation and prosthetics in the Lviv region.

In order to be mobile and move freely, I need a functional hip prosthesis, the budget of which is higher than the state program covers.

So I had to turn to charitable people for help.

 

COLLECTED AND TRANSFERRED: UAH 106,734.41