Soldier Roman, call sign FANTOMAS

I serve in the active operations unit of the GUR MO “KRAKEN.” Before the great war I was a wushu coach: I taught tai chi chuan, qigong, and women’s self-defense. On February 24, like many men, I took my family to western Ukraine and returned to Kharkiv.

For the first three weeks I volunteered: I transported people to Poltava and brought medicine and food to Kharkiv. And then, as I joke, I “got a job in the war through connections.” My friend, at that point already an “experienced warrior” with a whole two weeks of combat experience, vouched for me and I was accepted into our assault company.

My first combat mission was the liberation of my native village of Ruska Lozova. Then came Pytomnyk, Prokhody, Donbas, and Kharkiv Oblast again. During the Kharkiv counteroffensive I sustained a severe wound. A mine exploded next to me. Four of my fellow soldiers were killed. I sustained a concussion and shrapnel wounds. After all the surgeries, approximately 50 fragments still remain in my body.

I was very lucky that our guys were nearby. Four tourniquets were immediately applied to me and I was evacuated very quickly. For almost the entire time I remained conscious and thought that they would amputate my right arm and right leg.

Then came surgeries at the Kharkiv hospital, treatment in Kyiv, rehabilitation and surgery on my arm in Latvia. I returned to my unit, but could no longer go on assaults, so I gradually transitioned to UAVs and continued to serve.

But the consequences of that wound remained with me. In the right knee — two fragments and a damaged cruciate ligament. In 2024 surgery was performed on me: the fragments could not be removed, the ligament was sutured. After this came rehabilitation in Lviv at the Ukrainian Sports Clinic, at a hospital in Kyiv, and also in Kharkiv.

But during another mission I re-injured the knee — the ligament was overstretched. Recently I underwent yet another surgery: the overstretched ligament was removed and a new one was made. And now I again need professional, high-quality rehabilitation at the “Markiv Rehab” Medical Center.

I have already undergone a great deal of treatment, surgeries, and recovery, but right now it is very important not to stop halfway and to give the knee the opportunity to fully recover after yet another surgical intervention. That is why I am compelled to ask for help.

I have plans for the future. I want to return to my qigong classes — Chinese breathing and health-improving gymnastics. At one time these classes helped many of my students during COVID. And now I think they are needed by Ukrainians more than ever. We have been living under enormous stress for years, and we need ways to help our nervous system calm down and recover.

 

COLLECTING: UAH 28,850.07