Double amputee Vitaliy Saiko, a veteran of the war in Ukraine, compares the artificial limbs made for him by a Berlin-based prosthetics specialist to a sports car. "This is individual work. It's like making a Lamborghini, it's assembled according to the client's order," Saiko told AFP.
The 42-year-old is among the first patients to be fitted for new prostheses in Germany with the help of an initiative to bring better care to Ukrainian amputees. Russia's invasion has killed thousands and left many more with life-changing injuries. The World Health Organization said in May that more than 20,000 amputations had been carried out there since February 2022.
But effective treatment for such severe injuries is often lacking in Ukraine. "There is better knowledge here (in Germany) on how to make a unique prosthesis," according to Janine von Wolfersdorff, whose organization Life Bridge Ukraine is behind the programme. So far, her organization has brought around 40 amputees to Germany for care, as well as six trainees, who will return to Ukraine with new expertise.
Walking on the prostheses is an "unusual sensation", said Saiko, but the former soldier is satisfied. "I was not walking at all, I was confined to a wheelchair," said Saiko, who has undergone more than 15 operations and months of rehabilitation since losing his legs in combat last year. Three months after coming to Berlin, Saiko said he feels "complete again", he said.
"I had my wings clipped, and now they have reappeared." S.