logo
Blinded Ukrainian soldiers face new challenges at home

Blinded Ukrainian soldiers face new challenges at home

Yahoo19-02-2025

At a medical centre in Kyiv, former soldier Dmytro Gorodynsky shuffled around to the funky notes of the 1970s hit "Le Freak", his eyes obscured by sunglasses.
The 39-year-old lost his eyesight in a Russian drone attack five months ago.
Now in rehabilitation, he is adjusting to the life-changing injury by learning dance steps as a way to improve his sense of balance and space.
Many of those returning blind from the front face challenges adapting to daily life, ignored by fellow citizens while facing difficulty accessing specialist care.
There are no official statistics on the number of blind veterans in Ukraine.
But in 2023, the UN warned that the war had led to a "concerning rise" in vision problems among the population as a whole.
Strained by Russia's invasion, Ukraine's healthcare system is not yet adapted to treat the newly blind, said Olesya Perepechenko, director of NGO Contemporary View, which helps blinded ex-soldiers.
Sometimes no one at the hospital teaches them how to use the toilet, she told AFP.
- 'Panic sets in' -
Gorodynsky, wearing military fatigues, smiled wistfully as he danced at Trinity Hub in Kyiv, a rehabilitation centre for the visually impaired.
In the first few weeks after his injury, he said, he would get lost and "panic sets in".
He had to ask for help for "basic things", he told AFP, with a pang of frustration in his voice.
But after two months of daily visits to the centre, where he is also learning to read Braille and use his phone, Gorodynsky has noticed progress.
"It gives us confidence and makes us want to keep living," Gorodynsky said.
He also said he will be able to stay in his career, a rarity for those blinded by injury.
A glass fitter before the war, he will now be responsible for glass repair.
Sometimes, his friends and family still hand him their mobile phones to show him a photo, he said.
This was hurtful at first, but he now realises: "They forget that I have this problem."
- 'Who would want me as a burden?' -
At the other end of the corridor, Mykola Kazyuk was practising using a computer.
"Move your right hand," his teacher, Oleksandr Gordiyko told him. His 48-year-old pupil, who will soon have gone a year without sight, complained that he had hit the wrong key again.
"These are probably our most challenging rehabilitation patients. It's not common for someone to lose their sight so suddenly and quickly," Gordiyko said.
Unlike those who gradually lose their sight through illness, soldiers have no time to prepare.
Learning how to make a coffee or take the bus has been frustrating for Kazyuk, who sighs just thinking about it.
"I have to, so that I don't become a vegetable," he said.
The ex-military man was disfigured and wounded in the legs while fighting at the front in April 2024.
When he woke up after a month in a coma, he realised he was blind.
With his white cane in his hand, Kazyuk initially thought he would be abandoned.
"Who would want me as a burden?" he said.
But little by little, with the support of his wife, he is regaining his independence. And he is proud to say that he can now bake cupcakes and sew on buttons.
- Is Ukraine ready? -
A former sapper in the army, Vladyslav Yeshchenko was blinded while clearing mines near the war-torn city of Bakhmut two and a half years ago.
To help others who have lost eyesight, the 26-year-old founded Let's See The Victory, another non-profit group.
In his living room, decorated with a Braille Playboy poster, he said the hardest part of going blind was accepting that his eyes, destroyed by a large mine explosion, were "not there any more", with no hope of ever being treated.
He also had to come to terms with the fact he would no longer be of "any use" on the battlefield.
After a period of angry outbursts and sleepless nights, he said it was his work with veterans that helped him feel useful again.
He believes Ukraine is not ready to welcome the newly blind.
Efforts are needed to improve accessibility, as well as to raise awareness among sighted people, who tend to ignore the issue, Yeshchenko said.
So sometimes he teases them a little.
Recently, when his neighbours complained that they could not see in the dark during power cuts sparked by Russian strikes, he joked: "How are you doing, losers?"
led-cad/am/yad-jj

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Palestinians say Israeli fire kills 12 near aid sites
Palestinians say Israeli fire kills 12 near aid sites

Boston Globe

time17 hours ago

  • Boston Globe

Palestinians say Israeli fire kills 12 near aid sites

Advertisement Eleven of the latest bodies were brought to Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces fired on some at a roundabout around a kilometer (half-mile) from a site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, in nearby Rafah. Israel's military said it fired warning shots at approaching 'suspects' who ignored warnings to turn away. It said the shooting happened in an area that is considered an active combat zone at night. Al-Awda Hospital said it received the body of a man and 29 people who were wounded near another GHF aid distribution point in central Gaza. The military said it fired warning shots in the area at around 6:40 a.m., but didn't see any casualties. Advertisement A GHF official said there was no violence in or around its distribution sites, all three of which delivered aid on Sunday. The group closed them temporarily last week to discuss safety measures with Israel's military and has warned people to stay on designated access routes. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. The new aid hubs are set up inside Israeli military zones where independent media have no access. The GHF also said it was piloting direct delivery to a community north of Rafah. Witnesses said the first shootings in southern Gaza took place at around 6 a.m., when they were told the site would open. Many headed toward it early, seeking desperately needed food before crowds arrived. Gaza's roughly 2 million Palestinians are almost completely reliant on international aid because nearly all food production capabilities have been destroyed. Adham Dahman, who was at Nasser Hospital with a bandage on his chin, said a tank fired toward them. 'We didn't know how to escape,' he said. 'This is [a] trap for us, not aid.' Zahed Ben Hassan said someone next to him was shot in the head. 'They said it was a safe area from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. ... So why did they start shooting at us?' he said. 'There was light out, and they have their cameras and can clearly see us.' The military announced on Friday that the sites would be open during those hours, and the areas would be a closed military zone the rest of the time. Children cried over their father's body at the hospital. 'I can't see you like this, Dad!' one girl said. Advertisement The new aid hubs are run by GHF, a new group of mainly American contractors. Israel wants it to replace a system coordinated by the United Nations and international aid groups. Israel and the United States accuse the Hamas militant group of stealing aid. The UN denies there is systematic diversion. The UN says the new system is unable to meet mounting needs, allows Israel to use aid as a weapon by determining who can receive it and forces people to relocate to where aid sites are positioned. The UN system has struggled to deliver aid, even after Israel eased its blockade of Gaza last month. UN officials say their efforts are hindered by Israeli military restrictions, the breakdown of law and order and widespread looting. Experts warned earlier this year that Gaza was at critical risk of famine, if Israel didn't lift its blockade and halt its military campaign. Both were renewed in March. Israeli officials have said the offensive will continue until all hostages are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile. On Sunday, Israel's military invited journalists into Khan Younis to show a tunnel under the European Hospital, saying they found the body of Mohammed Sinwar, the head of Hamas' armed wing, there after he was killed last month. Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza independently since the war began. '(Israeli forces) would prefer not to hit or target hospitals,' army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said. Sinwar's body was found in a room under the hospital's emergency room, Defrin said. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Talks mediated by the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar have been deadlocked for months. Advertisement Hamas started the war with its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage. They still hold 55 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It says women and children make up most of the dead, but doesn't say how many civilians or combatants were killed. Israel says it has killed more than 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 percent of its population.

Israeli forces strike Gaza residential building as 95 Palestinians killed over past 24 hours
Israeli forces strike Gaza residential building as 95 Palestinians killed over past 24 hours

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Yahoo

Israeli forces strike Gaza residential building as 95 Palestinians killed over past 24 hours

Israeli forces killed at least 95 people in Gaza over the last 24 hours, six of them near an aid distribution centre, the local health ministry said on Sunday. Many more Palestinians were feared dead as rescuers scrambled to find people trapped under the rubble of a residential building bombed in Gaza City. The Israeli army gave 'no warning, no alert' before striking the building on Saturday, Palestinian civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basel told Al Jazeera. The strike killed at least 16 people in the neighbourhood, including several women and children. 'Instead of waking up to cheer our children and dress them up to enjoy Eid,' Hamed Keheel, a displaced Palestinian at the site, said, 'we wake up to carry women and children's bodies from under rubble.' Six of the Palestinians killed over the last day were on their way to get food aid, Associated Press reported, citing hospital staff in Gaza. The besieged Palestinian territory's nearly two million people rely almost entirely on food aid after the widespread Israeli destruction of its agriculture and nearly three-month blockade. The UN has warned that Gaza's population is at dire risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade. Shootings by Israeli forces are being reported frequently near aid distribution hubs run by US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah where Palestinians gather to receive food aid. In all, according to Gaza health officials, over 80 people have been killed in shootings by Israeli soldiers near these aid hubs over just two weeks. 'As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,' Gaza resident Samir Abu Hadid told AFP news agency. The controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations in late May, replacing UN networks that have been working in the region for decades. Critics have slammed the group saying its operations weaponise aid. 'There is no food, no flour, no shelter, no mosques, no homes, no mattresses,' Kamel Emran, a resident of Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis, told AP after attending Eid prayers on Saturday. 'The conditions are very, very harsh.' On Saturday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it could not distribute any humanitarian relief due to Hamas-issued 'direct threats'. 'These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk,' the group alleged in a statement. Hamas told Reuters that it had no knowledge of these 'alleged threats'. Since Israel invaded Gaza in October 2023, its soldiers have killed over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry. Amid the looming famine, health authorities have recorded more than 300 miscarriages over 80 days in Gaza, with basic medical supplies like vitamins and iron supplements impossible to obtain. 'What we are seeing now is the direct fallout of Israel's weaponising of hunger in Gaza, impacting babies' growth,' Brenda Kelly, a consultant obstetrician at Oxford University Hospital, told Al Jazeera, 'and growth restriction is one of the leading causes of miscarriages and stillbirth.'

Israeli forces strike Gaza residential building as 95 Palestinians killed over past 24 hours
Israeli forces strike Gaza residential building as 95 Palestinians killed over past 24 hours

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Yahoo

Israeli forces strike Gaza residential building as 95 Palestinians killed over past 24 hours

Israeli forces killed at least 95 people in Gaza over the last 24 hours, six of them near an aid distribution centre, the local health ministry said on Sunday. Many more Palestinians were feared dead as rescuers scrambled to find people trapped under the rubble of a residential building bombed in Gaza City. The Israeli army gave 'no warning, no alert' before striking the building on Saturday, Palestinian civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Basel told Al Jazeera. The strike killed at least 16 people in the neighbourhood, including several women and children. 'Instead of waking up to cheer our children and dress them up to enjoy Eid,' Hamed Keheel, a displaced Palestinian at the site, said, 'we wake up to carry women and children's bodies from under rubble.' Six of the Palestinians killed over the last day were on their way to get food aid, Associated Press reported, citing hospital staff in Gaza. The besieged Palestinian territory's nearly two million people rely almost entirely on food aid after the widespread Israeli destruction of its agriculture and nearly three-month blockade. The UN has warned that Gaza's population is at dire risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade. Shootings by Israeli forces are being reported frequently near aid distribution hubs run by US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in Rafah where Palestinians gather to receive food aid. In all, according to Gaza health officials, over 80 people have been killed in shootings by Israeli soldiers near these aid hubs over just two weeks. 'As soon as some people tried to advance towards the aid centre, the Israeli forces opened fire from armoured vehicles stationed near the centre, firing into the air and then at civilians,' Gaza resident Samir Abu Hadid told AFP news agency. The controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations in late May, replacing UN networks that have been working in the region for decades. Critics have slammed the group saying its operations weaponise aid. 'There is no food, no flour, no shelter, no mosques, no homes, no mattresses,' Kamel Emran, a resident of Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis, told AP after attending Eid prayers on Saturday. 'The conditions are very, very harsh.' On Saturday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it could not distribute any humanitarian relief due to Hamas-issued 'direct threats'. 'These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk,' the group alleged in a statement. Hamas told Reuters that it had no knowledge of these 'alleged threats'. Since Israel invaded Gaza in October 2023, its soldiers have killed over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry. Amid the looming famine, health authorities have recorded more than 300 miscarriages over 80 days in Gaza, with basic medical supplies like vitamins and iron supplements impossible to obtain. 'What we are seeing now is the direct fallout of Israel's weaponising of hunger in Gaza, impacting babies' growth,' Brenda Kelly, a consultant obstetrician at Oxford University Hospital, told Al Jazeera, 'and growth restriction is one of the leading causes of miscarriages and stillbirth.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store