Oleksii Savin recalls how he joined the war: “On February 24, I saw people in panic — rushing to stores, fleeing the city. That really… I’m the kind of person who can’t allow myself to do that. I wouldn’t respect myself. So, on the first day, I went to donate blood, and on the second day, I enlisted in the Territorial Defense Force (TDF).”

Oleksii is 37 years old and, in civilian life, works as an IT engineer. His TDF platoon consisted of 12 men from neighboring apartment buildings — engineers, athletes, entrepreneurs. During the first month of the full-scale invasion, they manned checkpoints in Kyiv. When Russian forces were driven out of Kyiv Oblast but the offensive in the East continued, the group, largely intact, headed to the Eastern front.

Oleksii’s unit carried out combat missions in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Luhansk regions. Today, half of the men he met on the second day of the war and lived alongside through the darkest days of his life are no longer alive. Oleksii was luckier — in his battle with death, he emerged a survivor. But the scars of that fight will remind him of it for years to come.

‍

A fragment from an explosive shell that landed nearby pierced through his torso. He suffered multiple bone fractures, joint destruction, ruptured arteries and veins — his body was left unrecognizable. In this condition, the wounded soldier was evacuated to Germany, where nine months of treatment brought him back to his feet. All costs, exceeding €140,000, were covered by the German side.

Today, Oleksii is back home. Alongside his work, he has a new, unavoidable routine: six days a week, four hours a day, he works with a rehabilitation specialist. His goal is to regain even a fraction of the mobility he once had in his injured leg.

‍