"Show you're on a prosthesis – and you're equal." How wounded soldier makes prostheses - hromadske

Sasha, a 29-year-old soldier, is constantly looking at his phone. He nervously taps his foot and occasionally looks back at the door with hope - he is looking forward to receiving his prosthesis. This will be the first time since his injury that the guy will be able to stand on two legs.

"I even took a second sock, I got used to it after 9 months," he smiles.

Sasha was wounded near Maryinka, Donetsk Oblast, in April 2023. Doctors had to amputate his leg below the knee.

In the small light blue hall of the prosthetic centre, there is no one else but Sasha. In the afternoon, the number of patients here decreases significantly. A little further down the corridor, behind a glass door, 39-year-old Denys is working. He is finishing the last work on the prosthesis and brings it to the boy. He smiles broadly when he sees his new leg.

- "Well, did you wait for it?" Denys asks the boy.
- "Yes," Sasha can't help but smile.
- "Let's go to the rehabilitation room and try it on.

Denys has been working at the prosthetic centre for more than six months. He is a former military man himself. His family is closely connected to the Armed Forces: three of his brothers are serving at the front, and the fourth was killed in the war in March 2024.

Denys's service began in 2015. He was in the ATO until 2019, and then joined the Air Force. On the first day of the full-scale invasion, the man was wounded in the leg by a rocket attack on his military unit. Doctors fought for several days to save his leg, but failed to do so.

After rehabilitation, Denys was offered a job as a prosthetist, and he accepted.