Soldier Babchenko Oleksandr

I, Oleksandr Babchenko, was born in 1979 in the Sumy region.

I had everything like everyone else - first school, then service in the Armed Forces, studying at a vocational school and university, and working for a telecommunications company.

The year 2014 I greeted at home, in Sumy...

During the first wave of mobilisation, I immediately went to the military recruitment office and was told to wait. In the second one, too. Only in the third wave did I receive a referral for a medical examination and a call-up.

I was assigned to the reconnaissance company of the 92nd separate mechanised brigade, and a month of training and coordination was ahead of me, during which I learned more than I did during my regular service.

I was trained and sent to the combat zone in the Luhansk sector.
 

In October 2014, during the unit's withdrawal after a combat mission, I was seriously wounded (I received both mine and bullet wounds). I survived only because my comrades provided timely and proper first aid and promptly evacuated me from the shelling area.

Then ( as I learned later from my comrades and doctors) - clinical death, two days in a coma and I came to senses in the intensive care unit of Kharkiv hospital. It was there that I saw that my left leg had been amputated above the knee as a result of the injury. Then there was the Kyiv hospital, treatment, and the manufacturing of a prosthesis. There I took my first steps and learnt to walk again.

In 2015, my fellow soldier (who had the same amputation) invited me to take part in the SYLA NATSII ("Strength of the Nation") CrossFit competition for soldiers with injuries and amputations, which took place in Mariupol.

I tried it, took part, and got carried away. Then competitions in Odesa, Kharkiv, Poltava, Kyiv, and Sumy followed.
 

On 24 February 2022, I met my family in Sumy.

I could not stand by and watch the enemy destroy my homeland. Unfortunately, I could not run anymore in formation on the prosthesis, so I helped as much as I could - I conducted first aid trainings, taught the soldiers mining and demining.

Now I work at Ukrposhta, and at the same time I try to be useful to both the Armed Forces and Ukraine.

Unfortunately, the service life of the prosthesis I have already expired. Taking into account my daily routine, I need a more functional prosthesis, for which the money allocated by the state is not sufficient.

 

COLLECTED AND TRANSFERRED: UAH 339,390