Oleksandr Popyk still has both legs. But they haven’t responded for a year and a half. In his wheelchair at home, he recounts his arrival in Bakhmout, at the start of the war. Wounded for the first time, he was hospitalized for three months, but after five days, Oleksandr cut off his cast himself and returned to the front.
A 17-centimeter hole in the spine
In October 2022, this time, it was serious: in the middle of an assault, he was hit by fire from a tank. “It left a 17 centimeter hole in my spine: the spinal cord is affected”, he says. Treated in Dnipro, then in kyiv, and as far as Poland, the doctors removed part of the shards from his body, but the diagnosis was clear: “I was told I would never walk again.”deplores Oleksandr.
Oleksandr suddenly writhes in pain, in silence. He pushes his hand hard into her thigh. Suffering distorts his face. “It’s normal”he said. “It’s like this all the time. I have spasms, cramps, constantly. Every day, for a year and a half. I never sleep properly anymore, neither at night nor during the day, despite taking sleeping pills “laments the former soldier.
“The State doesn’t care!”
Medication ? He takes a lot of it, but what really helps him is the motorbike. “I continue to do it! Even in this state: my wife tapes my legs to the bike, and off we go: I go for it”, he says. To ease his suffering, he would need a neuro-stimulator. But it costs 17,000 euros, “and the State doesn’t care! I have to find this sum myself”assures Oleksandr.
Oleksandr is already fighting to receive his disability pension and reorganize his house, making an access ramp for his chair. The bathroom ? It was his wife and her friends who redid it: removed the shower tray, raised the sink. “We paid for all of this out of our own pocket. The State, when you are at the front, needs you! But if you come out disabled, no one will take care of you anymore”he denounces.
He knows a lot of armchair soldiers like him. For him, Ukraine is not ready to face this challenge. But what if it had to be done again? He would go back. His wife, Katia, said she would not let him go again. “That’s enough of it. He’s already suffered too much.”, she says. Oleksandr, however, insists, his place is at the front! “Put caterpillars on my chair”, he said “and I’m off to attack again.”
