Veterans organization gives back to severely wounded 'appreciative' Ukrainian soldiers
One American veterans nonprofit is giving back to Ukrainian soldiers severely wounded in combat or in Russian war camps.
The American Warrior Partnership (AWP), a 501c3 based in Georgia, seeks to address mental wellness challenges for veterans "long before a crisis occurs," according to its website.
President Jim Lorraine, himself an Air Force veteran, shared with Fox News Digital AWP's partnership in aiding Ukrainian soldiers.
"The American Warrior Partnership is a national veterans-serving nonprofit," Lorraine said. "Our focus is on getting to know veterans all over the country, understanding what they need on one hand, and then connecting them to local and national resources on the other, with the goal of improving their quality of life so that they have such a high quality of life that that suicide is not something they contemplate."
The AWP recently teamed up with Metinvest, a group of steel and mining companies that operates in the U.S. and Ukraine and is Ukraine's largest company, to help transition thousands of their employees serving on the frontline back into the workforce.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's estimates, 380,000 of his country's soldiers have been injured in the ongoing war with Russia. Approximately 57,000 of those have suffered severe amputations, putting Ukraine in a challenging position to reintegrate hundreds of thousands of injured service members back into civilian life.
Metinvest hired AWP directly for this initiative, ensuring that no U.S. grant funds designated for American veterans were used in assisting Ukrainian veterans. The collaboration operates entirely using Metinvest's resources, reinforcing a commitment to supporting veterans without diverting aid intended for U.S. service members.
Ret. Lt. Col. Lorraine, a 20-year combat veteran of the Air Force, got to personally know several Ukrainian veterans in his work with Metinvest. One veteran, affectionately known as "Wikipedia" for his vast knowledge, suffered an above-the-knee amputation in combat and had a prosthetic leg finished in Staten Island, New York, by the company.
"They were all looking forward to their independence, to starting a life without a risk of harassment and getting back to their families," Lorraine said. "And then I get to tell you, that's that's no different than anyone, any veteran that I've ever met is our goal is, you know, secure and make our country safe."
As far as the ongoing war with Russia, Lorraine urges Americans to see the plight of the Ukrainians as one that could rapidly affect us.
"I just don't want to see U.S. troops there… My son served, and as I've said, he's a Purple Heart recipient. I don't want him serving," Lorraine said. "And if the Ukrainians, who are fighting an incredible fight against a world power, are holding their own, and have pushed Russia back to the edges of their borders, if they can do it with resources, not money, but resources, military resources, and I would also say humanitarian resources, if they can do that, I think we're all safer. I think Europe's safer and I think the United States is safer."
AWP stresses that veterans share similarities all the world over, and that Ukrainian veterans returning to civilian life benefit from the same holistic approach that U.S. service members do.
"Our motto at America's Warrior Partnership is 'together we can do better,'" Lorraine said. "And that's what I truly believe is what we're trying to do for Ukraine is work together with them so that they can do better."
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