JUST three days into the Ukraine war, pensions clerk and mum-of- two Olena signed up to fight the Russians.
Her daughter’s mother-in-law had just been paralysed by an enemy missile strike in their home town of Kryvyi Rih, birthplace of President Zelensky.
Now Olena, an army sergeant, is a triple amputee in a wheelchair — and her recovery is being aided by a unit of British military medics.
The Sun gained world-first access to the unit, deployed to a rehab hospital in the war zone where patients include Olena and British-trained paratrooper Volodymyr, who lost both feet in a landmine blast.
Olena, 45, said: “I volunteered to join the army because I had to protect my family,” and she quoted the old proverb: “If not me, then who?”
She said she wanted to rejoin her comrades but joked with a nod to her missing limbs: “I am not sure how my commander will react. My family might have something to say about it too.”
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Olena, mum to daughter Dasha, 20, and son Sasha, 14, is being trained to get in and out of her wheelchair independently.
She said of her decision to fight in the war: “I don’t regret a thing.
“Of course I wish I could grow my limbs back, but the doctors here are helping me to adjust.”
Golden hour
During her time in the army she served as a cook, clerk, combat medic and most recently as a target spotter for drone operators in the 129th “Shkval” Mechanised Brigade.
On September 27 she was injured by a drone which struck the car she was travelling in near bomb-blitzed Kupiansk in eastern Kharkiv province.
Olena told The Sun: “It happened very quickly. There was a little turn in the road and a drone was flying towards us.
“Literally, three seconds. I actually saw it flying into me.
“I just managed to cover myself a bit, and it hit me right in the legs.”
The driver, who was miraculously unhurt, dragged her from the wreckage and put her on a stretcher where comrades wrapped tourniquets on her arm and legs. It was five hours before they got her to hospital.
Olena said: “I stayed conscious the whole time until I got to hospital and they put me to sleep. I was in a coma 12 days.”
She joked: “I can’t tell you about that.”
When British troops served in Iraq and Afghanistan they aimed to get wounded soldiers to hospital within a “golden hour” to boost their chance of survival.
To begin with I never thought I’d be able to transfer from my bed to the wheelchair, but now I can. You can see the result
Injured Ukrainian fighter, Olena
In Ukraine the prevalence of drones and the risk to helicopters mean wounded soldiers are lucky if they get a “golden day”, a British medic said.
We met Olena as physiotherapists and rehabilitation specialists taught her some strength-building exercises to aid her recovery.
She said: “To begin with I never thought I’d be able to transfer from my bed to the wheelchair, but now I can. You can see the result.”
The Sun agreed not to reveal the clinic’s location, as it already risks a Russian missile attack.
We visited the hospital days before Britain suffered its first military fatality of the war.
Paratrooper George Hooley, 28, died after a “catastrophic accident” while helping test a new air defence weapon.
The British medics in Ukraine are led by Afghan war veteran Mike, a Lieutenant Colonel and rehabilitation consultant, who said that their main goal was to “improve the recovery of Ukraine’s defenders”.
He added: “Their focus could be getting out of bed, it could be getting on to the toilet, and in the future it might be getting on to prosthetic legs and learning how to walk.”
His small team includes physiotherapists, exercise rehabilitation specialists and medical support staff on a mission known as Project Renovator.
The UK has invested more than £55million to rebuild parts of a bombed hospital, provide rehab equipment and work alongside Ukrainian medics.
The hospital boss, a Ukrainian colonel who cannot be named, said UK support had increased his capacity by 25 per cent.
In a nearby gym we met corporal Volodymyr, 41, a map maker before the war, who had amazed British medics by learning to use prosthetic legs in just three months after he was injured by a landmine in April.
One said: “I thought it was a mistake on the paperwork. The speed of his recovery is extraordinary. It is his personality and determination.”
Volodymyr was mobilised in June 2023 and sent to a UK boot camp as part of Operation Interflex, which has trained more than 62,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
He believes British training kept him alive during two years of war, and gave him the mental strength to survive his injuries.
He said: “That base, that foundation laid during training, saved my life, 100 per cent.”
Recalling the moment he was injured, he said: “We were returning from a combat mission, listening for drones and always looking under our feet for mines.
“That’s what the British taught us — ‘Listen and look’.
Immediately I could see my legs were blown off, but I could see one knee so I applied a tourniquet below it.
Injured Ukrainian fighter, Volodymyr
“The Russian mine must have been dropped off the path to one side. I was walking, and all I remember is the explosion, and the next second I’m lying on the grass.”
He added: “Immediately I could see my legs were blown off, but I could see one knee so I applied a tourniquet below it.
“I applied the first tourniquet myself and put the second one beside me and shouted to my comrades that I was wounded.”
Electric shock therapy
His comrades staunched the bleeding, then a ground drone — a remotely operated vehicle — was used to carry him two miles to an evacuation point where an ambulance took him to hospital.
Volodymyr said: “The pain was so much that it’s hard to describe. I was conscious.”
He added: “When I got to the medics I realised that’s it. Now I can relax and not control the situation. I surrendered myself to the doctors.
“They injected me with a sedative, and I woke up about ten hours later with amputated legs.”
Also being helped is married dad-of-two Oleksandr, 42, who worked in IT before the war.
He was serving with Ukraine’s 43rd Seperate Mechanised Brigade when he stepped on a land mine near Kupiansk on October 28 and lost his left foot.
When we visited, he was playing catch with a Ukrainian medic to improve his balance.
The British medics in Ukraine are also learning lessons that could soon improve NHS care.
Mike said: “One of the silver linings of conflict is that it improves the quality of care for everyone within the system.”
An area where Ukraine is breaking new ground is in repairing severed nerves with electric shock therapy.
Mike, 42, said Ukrainian medics had evidence of “improved and faster recovery” by getting the nerves to regrow faster.
He added: “There are interesting cases where people have damage to a nerve from either a blast injury, from a drone, or even artillery or a bullet.”
Surgeons can transplant nerves much as they would in Britain, but Mike said: “The reality is it doesn’t work every time.”
He added: “The Ukrainians have also been using electrical stimulation many times. They’ve got a small amount of evidence that I’ve seen on this trip of improved and faster recovery.
“It seems that they’re improving the forwards growth of the nerve, perhaps by increasing the blood supply.
“By stimulating the nerve, the nerve thinks it’s being used, the body thinks it’s something to invest in and increases the blood flow in the area.”
Ukraine is also pioneering the early use of prosthetic sleeves made by British firm Koalaa, for patients who have lost a hand.
The hospital boss said: “Using prosthetics earlier in the patients’ recovery helps their brain adapt and reduces their rehabilitation by about two weeks.
“One successful rehabilitation frees up at least two to three people back into society.”
As for the US-led peace talks, and her dead comrades’ sacrifice, Olena feels let down.
She said: “All the negotiating points seem to favour Russia. What is there for us? “I have one question: What did they all die for if we give in to Russia?”
Asked if she had a message for Vladimir Putin, she said: “Like everyone, I’d swear at him. I don’t think you could print it.”