Latest news with #Melnyk
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Health
- Boston Globe
Rebuilding faces, lives, and a sense of self in Ukraine
Patients depend on doctors to heal their physical wounds, and on the support of family to move forward. The face is the window to identity and emotion. To have it disfigured is not merely to be wounded, but to be unmoored from one's own sense of self. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, many Ukrainians have suffered grievous facial injuries, a brutal testament to the power of modern weaponry and the vulnerability of the flesh. 'A soldier loses a leg, and society calls him a hero,' said Dr. Andrii Kopchak, the head of the department of maxillofacial surgery at Bogomolets National Medical University in Kyiv, Ukraine. 'But lose your face? You become a ghost.' Surgeons have made significant strides in tending to Ukraine's wounded, particularly through the use of 3D printing. By creating patient-specific implants and surgical guides, the technology allows for more precise reconstruction of shattered jaws, cheekbones and eye sockets — restoring not just function, but the very contours of someone's identity. Advertisement These advances build on a century of innovation, from Harold Gillies' pioneering surgery to mend faces broken in the muddy trenches of the Somme in World War I to today's digital modeling to repair bodies mangled in the bloody battle for Bakhmut. The goal has long been to restore function, while also giving hope to the wounded. Advertisement For many of Ukraine's wounded, breakthrough surgical treatments followed earlier, botched operations that, in effect, had to be undone and redone. Like much of the Ukrainian war effort, the medical struggle has been marked by improvisation and experimentation. The New York Times spent two years visiting men and women whose lives have been shattered, and meeting the doctors and volunteers working to help them. 'It's the same fight, for yourself, for your life,' said Volodymyr Melnyk. 'Just like in the trenches, same goes for the hospital bed after the injury.' Throughout his recovery, Melnyk was driven by one burning desire: to rejoin the fight. Ukrainian and foreign surgeons have made significant strides in tending to the wounded. Doctors said the psychological scars can be even harder to heal. Melnyk, 32, was wounded in 2023, when his unit stormed a Russian hilltop position and, after intense combat, seized control of it. During the battle, shrapnel shredded his face. 'All the nerves on the right side of my face were severed,' he said. 'All the bones were shattered. I could not see out of my eye.' Melnyk underwent round after round of surgery. Plates were incorrectly placed, abscesses formed, and shrapnel was left inside. It was only after nearly two months that volunteers from the 'Doctors for Heroes' project intervened, helping transfer him to a new hospital and a new program to reconstruct his face. 'We scan the skull, create a digital model and print titanium plates layer by layer,' said Kopchak, pulling up a CT scan of a patient's smashed jaw. 'It's like rebuilding a shattered vase. Every fragment matters.' Advertisement Melnyk has endured more than 50 operations. Last fall, he was preparing for what he hoped would be the last. 'The main thing was to be able to chew and eat because that's energy for a person, especially a soldier,' he said. He has since returned to duty at the front. Artur Tkachenko returned from the front, hoping he had put the worst of the war behind him. It was just weeks later, when he, his wife, Julia, and their 20-month-old daughter were visiting his parents, that the missile struck. The explosion that killed his parents also injured his wife and daughter, hurling the little girl more than 20 yards. When he regained consciousness, Tkachenko, now 37, did not recognize the face in the mirror. 'It was very different,' he said from a hospital bed in Kyiv, still struggling to find words. 'I couldn't feel parts of it. I couldn't even talk.' He had suffered severe damage to his skull and facial bones. 'Shrapnel was embedded deep inside his head — one piece was even protruding when he arrived,' said Dr. Roman Kozak, the surgeon who performed the initial reconstructive surgery last year. It was an exceedingly complex case, the doctors said, that showed both the possibility and some limitations of technology. Kozak and his team collaborated with bioengineers to digitally reconstruct Tkachenko's shattered face. With 3D printing, they created implants tailored to his unique facial structure, to hold bone fragments in place. 'Now, we are preparing for a second surgery to reconstruct his lower eyelid and remove the metal plates, which pose a risk of infection due to their proximity to the nasal sinuses,' Kozak said. Advertisement Back From the dead Nelya Leonidova is determined to help others who have suffered wounds like hers. The first thing Leonidova, now 45, remembers after being injured was the feel of cold steel pressing against her cheek. She did not know where she was, only that it was dark and a stench hung thick in the air — a mix of antiseptic and death. She was returning from a chicken farm to distribute food to local residents when Russian warplanes bombed the road. 'My first thought, piercing like pain, was 'the children,'' she said. 'Dying isn't scary; I know that now,' she added. 'The fear is leaving your children alone in this world.' Her children later escaped Russian-occupied territory, joining her first in Kharkiv and now in western Ukraine. She has undergone countless surgeries, many to correct earlier operations. Doctors from the Canadian charity Face the Future used a titanium implant, tailor-made, to rebuild her shattered eye socket. Leonidova now wants to study psychology and open a center to help others wounded in war. Her darkest thoughts have faded. She and her boyfriend, Nazar Zhurba, got engaged. 'I'm a tough woman — titanium facade, steel bite, and the stare of a pit bull after a fight, creating miracles like Medusa Gorgon,' she said with dramatic flourish. 'My gaze turns people to stone.' Not wanting to be seen After an exploding mine tore apart his face, Bohdan Poplavskyi did not want his sons to see him. Advertisement It is common, doctors said, for patients with traumatic facial injuries to want to close themselves off. Patients who are unrecognizable to themselves can find it hard to reclaim their place in society. Poplavskyi's progress has been slow — he still cannot talk and has little sight. Poplavskyi struggles most with the loss of vision, his family said. He was eventually reunited with his sons, who often guide him through the world, and it pains him that he cannot see them or watch them grow up. For such patients, 'the psychological toll is relentless,' Kopchak said. 'Imagine looking in the mirror and not recognizing yourself. Now imagine your wife or child seeing you that way.'
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is it cheaper to live in Halifax or Toronto? This data says costs are comparable
The share of income Halifax households typically spent on housing and transportation costs in 2024 was comparable to cities like Toronto, according to recent Statistics Canada data analyzed by CBC News. Half of households in Halifax were estimated to spend about 31 per cent or more of before-tax income on those two expense categories. In Toronto, the figure was 30 per cent. With housing costs having rapidly increased over the last several years, Halifax realtor Chris Melnyk said the data lines up with what he's seen. "A lot of people have this kind of misconception that … homes are cheap," said Melnyk. Over the last few years, he's regularly received inquiries from people outside Nova Scotia who are interested in moving to the province. But, some decided not to after discovering Halifax homes were expensive. Melnyk said prices for many homes in and around the city effectively doubled from 2019 to 2022, adding that overall prices have been climbing since then following a brief decline. "The value proposition [of moving to Halifax] doesn't make that much more sense anymore relative to say, a number of years ago when it was a lot cheaper." Up until two years ago, Montreal-based musician and music teacher Rachel Sunter was living in Halifax, where she saw that change in housing prices first-hand. While renting, Sunter started to consider buying her first home just before 2020. But in only a couple of years, that was out of reach. "I could be a homeowner on one side of that [and] on the other side had no chance," Sunter said. Rising rents were one of the main reasons for Sunter's decision to move to Montreal after more than a decade living and building a career in Halifax. There, Sunter rented a house with roommates. She said she was repeatedly told for a number of years that the house would be demolished, prompting multiple searches for a new apartment. "Each year, all I could see was that there was nothing … I would be able to afford [while] paying rent and having a teaching business at the same time," Sunter said. Rents are, on average, considerably lower in Montreal, although Sunter said owning a car there has been more expensive for her due to licensing costs and other fees. The Statistics Canada data shows the median household in Toronto does spend a higher proportion of before-tax income on housing than in Halifax. But, when transportation costs are factored in, the cities are similar. By that combined measure, Halifax ranked 22 most expensive out of the 50 largest census subdivisions in Canada, which generally represent municipalities. The figures are from the statistics agency's relatively new Housing and Transportation Cost Index, which aims to provide a better sense of what it costs to live in an area as of May 2024. The idea behind the index is that even though housing in suburban areas can be cheaper than in the city's core, commuting and other transportation costs can offset that advantage and vice-versa. In Halifax since 2024, the average price of regular unleaded gas has been consistently higher than in Toronto, according to Statistics Canada. At the same time, wages in Nova Scotia were the lowest in Canada last year. Out of all the provinces, Nova Scotia was the sixth-most expensive in terms of the fraction of before-tax household income spent on housing, said Marcello Barisonzi, a senior analyst with Statistics Canada. But the province was the most expensive for transportation, pushing Nova Scotia to fourth place overall. Barisonzi said transportation costs were most expensive for those living in small towns. MORE TOP STORIES
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukrainian envoy hails Merz for keeping extent of military aid secret
Ukraine's ambassador to Germany has praised the country's new leader for keeping the extent of weapons deliveries for Kiev under wraps, in what is seen as an attempt to create "strategic ambiguity" aimed at leaving Russia in the dark about Ukraine's capabilities. After taking office last week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz agreed with Defence Minister Boris Pistorius to stop detailed publications of arms deliveries to Ukraine, including exact quantities. Merz's predecessor Olaf Scholz pursued the same practice in the first months of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine launched in February 2022, but his administration later succumbed to public pressure and began publishing a detailed list of the shipments online in June that year. It was last updated on May 6, the day the new government took office in Berlin. Merz, at the time the conservative opposition leader, sharply criticized the practice of keeping the details of arms shipments under wraps. "We are being kept in suspense, there are excuses, there is no precise information about what Germany is actually supplying," he told broadcasters RTL and n-tv at the time, pledging he would "inform the public better" if he was elected chancellor. "A good chess player thinks several moves ahead. What he doesn't do is predict these moves to his opponent," Ambassador Oleksii Makeiev told dpa, welcoming Merz's change of course. Makeiev's predecessor Andriy Melnyk, on the other hand, criticized Merz for his u-turn, calling the approach a "very strange" practice that brought back "bad memories" of Scholz's centre-left administration which Melnyk claimed sought to mask restraint in arms deliveries by secrecy. Melnyk argued that publishing the exact extent of the military aid would send a strong signal to Russia and have a preventative effect.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sumy Oblast authorities urge residents of two border towns to evacuate immediately
Residents of the towns of Bilopillia and Vorozhba, located near the Russian border in Sumy Oblast, were urged to evacuate urgently on 5 May. Source: Mykhailo Melnyk, Head of Sumy District State Administration, on Facebook Quote: "I urge the residents of Bilopillia and Vorozhba to evacuate to a safe place immediately! Evacuation buses leave every morning at 08:00." Details: Melnyk added that it is possible to register for evacuation at any time of day. Border area of Sumy Oblast on the map. Background: The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated that claims by the senior Russian command regarding the alleged end of hostilities in Russia's Kursk Oblast are false. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian troops continue to conduct active defensive operations in Russia's Kursk and Belgorod oblasts. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stated that the operation in Russia's Kursk Oblast, ongoing for nine months, had achieved most of its objectives and the buffer zone established by Ukrainian forces remains relevant. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ukrainian diplomat urges Merz to deliver Taurus missiles to Kyiv, lead Europe in ending Russia's war
Ukrainian diplomat Andrii Melnyk has called on Germany's incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, to fulfill his campaign promise and immediately deliver 150 Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, alongside a broader set of decisive actions to stop Russia's full-scale war. "Germany, of all places, has a decisive role to play in stopping murder and bringing about a just peace," Melnyk wrote in a letter published in German by Die Welt, a national daily newspaper. "Not only does the future of the Federal Republic depend on your success as chancellor, but also the fate of Ukraine — and the whole of Europe." Andrii Melnyk served as Ukraine's ambassador to Germany from December 2014 to October 2022, then as Deputy Foreign Minister, and since June 20, 2023, he has been Ukraine's ambassador to Brazil. In the letter, published shortly before Easter, Melnyk outlined five steps Merz should take during his first 100 days in office. First, he proposed a coalition decision to allocate 0.5% of Germany's GDP annually — around 21.5 billion euros ($24.5 billion) per year, or 86 billion euros ($98 billion) by 2029 — for arms supplies to Ukraine. The funding, he said, should go toward the production of advanced weapons in both Germany and Ukraine, calling it "a huge investment in Germany's security." Read also: 'Today we will pledge billions' for Ukraine — allies begin Ramstein-format meeting in Brussels Melnyk also called for the same 0.5% commitment to be adopted at the EU and G7 levels, excluding the United States. He said the resulting 550-billion-euro ($622 billion) investment in Ukraine's defense over the next four years would send a powerful message to Moscow. "This mega-commitment… would be a huge warning signal to Putin that you, Mr. Merz, and our allies are serious about Ukraine's aid," he wrote. "This will impress Putin." One of the most urgent demands in the letter is the immediate announcement and implementation of Taurus missile deliveries. "This election promise must be fulfilled, despite the expected resistance from the (Social Democratic Party) SPD," Melnyk wrote, adding that Germany does not need "coordination with partners" or to issue ultimatums to the Kremlin. The outgoing German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has repeatedly blocked the delivery of Taurus missiles over his concerns about escalation. Merz has been critical of this position and advocated for Ukraine's ability to strike strategically. In an interview on April 13, Merz also suggested that the long-range missiles, if supplied to Ukraine, could be used to target strategic Russian military infrastructure in occupied Crimea. The Telegraph reported on April 16 that the U.K. would support a potential German decision to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine. "These inferno weapons should simply be delivered, without 'ifs' and 'buts', to stop the creeping advance of the Russians and change the current war dynamics at its core," Melnyk wrote, according to the Welt. The letter also proposes transferring 30% of Germany's available fighter jets, helicopters, and armored vehicles to Ukraine and adopting a lend-lease-style law to enable swift deliveries. Melnyk concluded by urging Merz to push to confiscate 200 billion euros in frozen Russian assets and use the funds for Ukraine's reconstruction. Read also: As Trump mulls cuts, NATO's integrity is on the line We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
