Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine cut Denys Kryvenko’s vacation short last year. A 24-year-old mold-maker from Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine, Kryvenko, who joined the 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade after evacuating his younger siblings, is now a triple amputee recovering at the Superhuman Medical Center near Lviv, Ukraine.
After four surgeries, above the knee amputations on both legs and losing his left wrist, Kryvenko is now holding an iPhone in his only working limb – a right hand and says he remembers every minute of the attack that saw him disabled. It was near the embattled city of Bakhmut his unit came under fire, and seconds later, Kryvenko realized he lost both legs and his life would never be the same again.
“My comrades carried me over to evacuation point, more than two kilometers from where I got injured. On the way there, a roller-coaster of emotions hit me. I was first crying, then hysterically laughing and cursing, I said goodbye to my comrades and sang our national anthem,” Kryvenko recalls.