Persistent inflation under the government of President

Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Zhalinskyi of the Azov brigade, who lost his right arm in battle, ties his shoelaces in his apartment in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on Jan. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)He tried three times to tighten a tourniquet, but it wouldn’t hold. With communications destroyed and no way to call for help, he had only one option — move toward the evacuation point, forcing himself to stay conscious with every step.

“It felt like I was walking forever.”Dark thoughts crept in, but he reminded himself of his five godchildren — he had to survive. Soldiers from a neighboring unit spotted him, stabilized him, and got him to safety. From that moment, there was no doubt — once he recovered, he would return to the fight.Andrii Rubliuk, a senior sergeant with a Ukrainian intelligence unit who lost both arms and a leg in combat, smiles during a training exercise near Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Andrii Rubliuk, a senior sergeant with a Ukrainian intelligence unit who lost both arms and a leg in combat, smiles during a training exercise near Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)But once he sheds his uniform, he has a plan. Before the invasion, he dreamed of opening a pub in his hometown. That dream remains — except he’s changed its name.

Now, he plans to call it Amputated Conscience.

Leonid Lobchuk, a soldier with Ukraine’s 127th brigade who lost a leg in combat in eastern Ukraine in 2015, walks near his self-propelled howitzer in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)Pavlo Romanovskyi, chief of a Ukrainian drone laboratory who lost a leg in battle, stands in an FPV drone storage area in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

“From the first moment (when the injury happened), comrades told me: ‘“We are waiting for you to come back.’”Pozniak, 50, serves as a commander of a sniper unit within the 27th Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard.

His left leg was amputated after he stepped on a mine in November 2022 during a counteroffensive in the Donetsk region. He returned to the military in December of 2023.Serhii Pozniak, a commander with a Ukrainian sniper unit who lost a leg after stepping on a mine, carries his rifle during training near Kyiv, Ukraine on Feb. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)