Anatolii recovers from injuries with HI

On the evening of January 12, 2025, Anatolii stepped outside his home in Antonivka to close his yard gate. A drone appeared without warning and immediately dropped a munition.

Severely injured and no ambulance 

Anatolii suffered severe wounds. His wife Olha, who was standing nearby, sustained a concussion and profound psychological trauma.

No ambulance came — local security situation had put an end to that service. Only the police arrived.

Two days later, surgeons in Mykolaiv told him that he had two options: amputation, or a complex recovery with permanent consequences.

No amputation

Anatolii chose to keep his leg. One leg is now shorter than the other, which has caused spinal curvature and makes walking a daily struggle and working harder still.

"As an athlete, I've always known how to train through pain. Now, every step is a different kind of competition — a daily battle to move, to work, and to reclaim the man I was before the strike."

Olha was once again injured in a drone attack on a bus she was travelling in, sustaining a concussion and a traumatic brain injury.

The couple's losses are staggering 

All four of the family’s properties — their home, their daughter's house, their parents' house, and their summer cottage — have all been destroyed. Their vehicles have also been destroyed, with one drone-struck right outside their own gate.

The family of five fled with little more than their documents and some savings.

Starting from zero

The couple have relocated to Mykolaiv, where they now live on the ninth floor of a building with unreliable elevators — a particular hardship given Anatolii's condition. Physical rehabilitation through HI has begun, though they wish they had accessed it sooner.

"Our greatest wish is to return home, to rebuild our lives in the place where we lived with love and leave everything behind for our children. We dream of peace", says Anatolii

Anatolii's disability pension is insufficient to cover the family's housing and living costs. They are, in their own words, starting from zero.

This project: Strengthening the capacities and resilience of mine action actors and conflict-affected populations towards explosive ordnance contamination in the East, Northeast, and South of Ukraine – Phase 2 (2026) builds on the previous SDC-funded project from 2024-2025, aiming to reduce the impact of explosive ordnance/explosive weapons (EO/EW) while increasing the resilience of at-risk communities.