Editor’s Note: Kyiv Post is launching a project devoted to Ukrainian army heroes injured in Russia’s war against the nation. Periodically we will tell the stories of these wounded warriors, many of whom need money for treatment, surgeries and prosthesis. At lest 363 soldiers have been killed and 1,434 injured in the war so far.
His eyes shine as he walks out of the hospital room and greets the volunteers. He walks fast despite bandages on his leg and arm. Both his hands are missing, blown off by a grenade.
Oleh Berezovskyi, 24, is a professional army officer from Kharkiv. He graduated from the Interior Troops Academy and says he doesn’t consider himself a hero and doesn’t grumble about the bad conditions in the war zone.
“Well, those who got to war from the couch might be saying so, but I am an officer and I spent the last six months on missions, so I am used to it,” Berezovskyi says in a steely voice.
The young man was a commander of an armored personnel carrier. He and his team were wounded during the army’s attempt to secure Mykolayivka village in Donetsk Oblast. A column of six APCs should have reached the crossroad and taken protective positions, but took a wrong turn before finding the enemy had set a trap for them.
Berezovskyi says the attack was repulsed, but many received sever injuries, “especially my crew. We were unlucky enough to be in the oldest and the worst APC,” he says. He was shooting from the APC window when a grenade was thrown in and exploded almost in his hands. The soldier’s arms and legs were also cut by shrapnel.
Berezovskyi was transferred to Krasnyi Lyman and then to Kharkiv and Kyiv hospitals. “In Krasnyi Lyman they cut off what was left of my hands, in Kharkiv I underwent eye surgery,” the officer says. There is also ear surgery and prosthetics ahead.
Unlike many others who are deeply depressed because of their disabled conditions, volunteers say that Berezovskyi is not. To the contrary, the young man has become the soul of the hospital. “He goes with us from one room to another and tries to cheer up everyone,” says Nataliya Yusupova, a Kyiv Military Hospital volunteer. “I remember him saying ‘I was over it the moment I understood I no longer have hands’ that amazed me so much.”
Berezovskyi’s treatment still requires more money that volunteers are trying to raise. Aside from money, visits and community support help keep Berezovskyi’s mood optimistic. “My days here fly by so quickly when all these people are coming to talk to us and support us,” he says.
To donate:
Oleh Volodymyrovych Berezovskyi
Privat Bank Card Number
5168 7572 2362 5452
