{"id":9525,"date":"2026-05-27T17:02:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9525"},"modified":"2026-05-27T17:02:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:02:40","slug":"for-one-ukrainian-war-amputee-rebuilding-is-painful-after-a-russian-strike-killed-her-husband","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9525","title":{"rendered":"For one Ukrainian war amputee, rebuilding is painful after a Russian strike killed her husband"},"content":{"rendered":"

By SAMYA KULLAB<\/strong><\/p>\n

KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine (AP) \u2014 After Iryna Nakonechna lost her left leg last year in a Russian missile attack that also killed her husband, the Ukrainian woman decided everything tied to her former self had to go.<\/p>

Read more Zelenskyy asks Trump for more US air defense help against Russian missile attacks, Kyiv says<\/a><\/p>\n

She cut off her dark wavy hair and removed furniture, clothes, trinkets and photographs from her home. Just one reminder of her previous life remained: a portrait of herself and her husband, Serhii Nakonechnyi.<\/p>\n

Shedding her old identity was necessary, she said, to endure the painful reinvention required to build a life with a prosthetic.<\/p>\n

Today, Nakonechna is quick-witted and effervescent, her laughter loud and sudden. She wears a pixie haircut and bold red cat-eye glasses, and knits small toy capybaras \u2014 an animal that has become an unofficial symbol among amputees in Ukraine. But beneath the sparkle in her eyes lies a grief woven into the painful process of becoming someone new. It\u2019s an often unspoken reality beneath the narratives of resilience surrounding the tens of thousands of people in Ukraine who have lost limbs in the war that began more than four years ago when Russia launched a full-scale invasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardest thing was accepting myself with these injuries, wounds that are not only physical,\u201d she said. \u201cComing to terms with how much my life has changed has been very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exact number of war amputees in Ukraine is unknown, but it continues to rise as landmines, artillery, and missile and drone strikes inflict catastrophic injuries on soldiers and civilians. The increase has fueled an expansion of rehabilitation and prosthetics services, while also reshaping Ukrainian society. Prosthetic limbs have become increasingly visible and powerful symbols of survival and defiance.<\/p>\n

Nakonechna, 50, still walks with a limp and uses a cane as she learns to trust the prosthetic that reaches her upper thigh. The airstrike also left her with limited mobility in her arms, making it difficult to lift heavy objects.<\/p>

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