Soldier Kostyantyn Ivashchenko, call sign PETROVYCH

I am 38 years old. I am an anesthesiologist — accustomed to keeping other people’s pain under control and taking responsibility in the hardest moments. In my unit, everyone knows me and calls me PETROVYCH.

When the full‑scale Russian invasion began, I continued working in the hospital for some time doing what I knew best. But inside I constantly felt: I can and must be where it is hardest. Where every second decides whether someone will return home alive.

At the beginning of 2023, I voluntarily mobilized into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I consciously chose the Air Assault Forces. I completed basic training and was assigned to the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade. I started as a rifleman in a parachute‑airborne battalion essentially in the infantry. Later, given my medical experience, I was transferred to the medical company. I served as an orderly, a medic, and after receiving an officer’s rank as a doctor. And I continue to serve in this capacity now.

From 2023 I was on the Kupiansk direction. From the beginning of 2024 until now — the Pokrovsk direction. Stabilization point, medical evacuation, wounded, blood, pain, decisions made at the edge of possibility. I am with those who are hardest hit. And I stay where I am needed.

After about a year of service, I began to feel pain in my hip joint. At first tolerable. Then — constant. I did not seek help: there was no time, no way, no right to “fall out.” Later, pain appeared in the other joint as well. The condition only worsened. For the last several months, I have lived on painkillers.

During leave, I had an MRI done. The diagnosis was harsh and uncompromising: bilateral aseptic necrosis of the heads of both femurs. The doctors’ conclusion was unequivocal — without surgery to replace both hip joints with endoprostheses, there is no avoiding it.

The surgery itself is free. But it is necessary to purchase two high‑quality implants. These must be reliable, modern endoprostheses that will last for decades and allow me not only to walk without pain, but to return to full service and life. Their cost is beyond my means, so I am forced to ask for help.

I want to undergo treatment, recover, and return to my unit. I cannot and do not want to leave the people with whom I have gone through the hardest phases of this war. I want to stand on my feet again literally and figuratively. With confidence. Without pain.

I have a dream to jump from a parachute again. Whether that will be possible after this treatment, time will tell. But right now my main dream is simpler and more important: to walk without pain and to be useful again where I am awaited.

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The fundraiser for joint replacement surgery for defender Kostiantyn Ivashchenko has been successfully closed. The implants have been purchased, and the operation has already taken place.

After the surgery, Kostiantyn was in high spirits, full of hope to recover as quickly as possible and return to duty. Already now, he is doing everything in his power — carefully following all doctors’ recommendations and determined to complete this journey.

We sincerely thank everyone who joined in: through donations, sharing information, and kind words. Your support was decisive. Special thanks to the medical team for their professionalism, care, and humanity.

The path to recovery has begun. And we believe that soon it will lead Kostiantyn to a life without pain and return the doctor to those who are waiting for him most.

COLLECTED AND TRANSFERRED: UAH 200,000