On either side of a basketball court in Kyiv, prostheses of various sizes rest alongside piles of water bottles, as two teams in wheelchairs fiercely compete for the ball just tossed up in the air to kick off the game.
The players — wounded Ukrainian service members and veterans — are training for the upcoming Invictus Games, an international sports competition for soldiers who have suffered life-altering injuries and sicknesses while fighting.
Among those players is Valerii Odainyk, a sapper of the 93rd separate mechanized brigade "Kholodnyi Yar," who lost his legs and some of his fingers in a mine explosion in January 2023.
Odainyk is currently training to compete in wheelchair basketball and rugby, as well as sitting volleyball at the games this year, which are taking place in Canada from Feb. 8–14. Ukraine will be represented by 35 participants at the 2025 competition.
"Given that my throwing hand does not have fingers, I had to adapt, which I more or less have at this point," he told the Kyiv Independent.
"On the court, we all feel the rhythm of the game — everyone is passionate and energized. You feel the best after a good and friendly game."
The Invictus Games, created in 2014 by Prince Harry, has sought to create a community for service members like Odaiynyk, bringing people together through the games themselves and creating a larger network of service members who have lived through the experience of war.
The Economist estimates that nearly 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been injured and are unable to return to the front line. After coming back from the battlefield or captivity, soldiers are often left to deal with their physical and mental trauma alone.
As of July 2024, there are 1.3 million veterans in Ukraine, of whom nearly 80% are mobilized, Suspilne reported, citing the Veterans Affairs Ministry.
"Many people return from the battlefield and simply disappear. You need to feel needed so as not to get lost," Odaiynyk said.
As the Ukrainians participating in the games train for their upcoming competitions, they say training and taking part in the games have helped them to adapt to civilian life, and learn to live with their injuries, both physical and mental.
"(The games are) a physical activity that restores the feeling of your body. To regain the ability to move, to control yourself and, as a result, to accept yourself — this is the main goal," Olga Semenova, psychologist of the Ukrainian Invictus Games team, told the Kyiv Independent.
"People really open up on the team. These changes are even greater than they seem from the outside. A person becomes more sociable and finds new interests. The participants then visit each other and communicate, even though they come from different regions," she added.
Like other Invictus Games participants, Odainyk has already completed five training camps to prepare for the upcoming games, some dedicated to team sports and others to individual disciplines. Depending on their injuries, the participants work either individually or in groups.
The Ukrainian team held its last training camp on the mountain slopes of Bukovel in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, as winter sports will make a debut at the upcoming competition in Canada. Odainyk, who skied for the first time while wearing prostheses, said the team skied all day with only a break for lunch to get prepared.
"It was scary to fall for the first time because you don't know how your legs will react, whether it will hurt. But after you fall for the first time, nothing is scary anymore. The fear disappears by itself," he added.
When asked if he is ready to represent Ukraine in Canada. Odainyk replied with no doubt: "Yes, 100%."
A new challenge
Another participant this year, Alla Senchenko, is preparing for her debut in Canada, where she will compete in the skeleton.
Senchenko said she has only trained in the basics of skeleton. The upcoming games in Canada will be the first time she completes a trial high-speed skeleton race on an ice track.
"It's scary, but I want to (try competing in skeleton)," she said. "Because life, like war, goes on. It's not for me to hide in a corner."
"Life, like the war, goes on. It's not for me to hide in a corner."
Senchenko, a former soldier of the 2nd Separate Rifle Battalion of the Volyn Territorial Defense Forces, spent just over eight months in Russian captivity after being captured in Lyman, Donetsk Oblast in May 2022. Senchenko was recently demobilized and is currently studying to become a clinical psychologist.
After her release, Senchenko had significant health problems that she is still dealing with today. Captivity also left a strong imprint on her mental state.
"When I returned (from captivity), I felt it all. I’m depressed now. It is a new challenge for me," Senchenko said, referring to dealing with her mental health.
While undergoing rehabilitation in her native Volyn Oblast in western Ukraine, Senchenko learned about the Invictus Games and did not hesitate to join. The former soldier said she found solace in sports after Russian captivity, where the so-called workouts under the supervision of brutal guards were more like torture.
"Sport relieves at least some tension. You concentrate on your body instead of negative thoughts in your head. Someone says something nice to you, and you talk to someone. It helps," she said.
Invisible wounds
Arsen Riaboshapko, a sailor in civilian life, was mobilized to the 77th separate airmobile brigade at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Riaboshapko was wounded in a firefight in the Bakhmut district of Donetsk Oblast. One bullet went through and hit only the soft tissue of his thigh, while another hit his thigh bone.
Following a series of surgeries and stretching ligaments in his leg through dreadfully painful physical therapy, Riaboshapko was driving in his car one day and heard an advertisement for the Invictus Games on the radio.
He was unsure whether to apply, as he didn't think his injury was "severe enough" to participate.
"I have all my limbs. I didn’t think it was for me," Riaboshapko said. "Often, you perceive such an injury as insufficient because society does not notice it either. It seems to be invisible."
Riaboshapko changed his mind after joining the Invictus Games team and finding support among active soldiers and veterans. This year he is planning to compete in wheelchair basketball and rugby, sitting volleyball, alpine skiing, and rowing on simulators.
He and his friends have also founded a non-governmental organization in Odesa that aims to help wounded veterans engage in adaptive sports.
'You just become homebound'
The national organizing committee of the Invictus Games holds almost monthly training camps for those selected for the national team. The participants remain in touch with their coaches and psychologists beyond the camps.
But for team members with serious injuries, life outside of the Invictus Games community can be isolating due to the lack of infrastructure for people with physical disabilities.
"You just become homebound," Odainyk said, describing the days when he uses a wheelchair in his city of Kamianets-Podilskyi, which has a population of 109,000 people.
In 2021, the government approved the National Strategy for Creating Barrier-Free Space until 2030, which, among other things, aims to make the infrastructure of Ukrainian cities more accessible to people with limited mobility.
The strategy is moving in small steps but still lags far behind the increase of people with disabilities due to the war.
"People do not understand the needs of soldiers returning from the front line. They do not want to understand," Odainyk added. "There is a feeling that the state has used you, and then, you are no longer needed because you are different."
Following his comeback from the Invictus Games, Odainyk wants to make his city community more friendly and comfortable for those returning from service. "We are not from outer space; we are ordinary citizens," he said.
Getting the word out about Invictus
Ukraine will participate in the Invictus Games for the fifth time. In 2024, a record 329 veterans and service members participated in the national selection process for this year's games.
But the broader public still does not know much about this project, said Ilona Voloshyna, national coordinator of the Invictus Games.
"Veterans are the backbone of our human capital today. In the future, every second person in their family will have someone who served in the war," Voloshyna told the Kyiv Independent.
"Of course, we want more people to know about the Games. Unfortunately, even when we visit rehabilitation centers, not all veterans know that they can participate."
Caring for veterans and military families indicates how the state treats its army, Voloshyna said. If other soldiers currently serving in the military see service people and veterans being taken care of, they understand: "Okay, if something happens to me, I will be supported," she added.
"One of the participants of the national selection wrote to us in the feedback: 'For the first time, I felt needed not only as a soldier but a veteran in my state.' Before that, he believed that he was just used material."
Dinara Khalilova
