He Can’t See, but 180,000 People Watch Him: Blinded by Russia’s War, This Ukrainian Soldier Became a Creator

In the hospital

“There’s a 99% chance this will be my last operation,” Vitalii tells us. Since he was heavily wounded on the frontline, he has already undergone dozens of surgical procedures. Just a few days after Russia’s full-scale invasion, he joined the ranks of the Ukrainian National Guard. Having military experience from 2011 to 2014, he couldn’t stand idly by and went off to defend his homeland.

“The final point was February 14, 2023, in the battle for Bakhmut,” Vitalii says. “As the commander of an assault group, I was carrying out a combat mission when I was wounded and completely lost my sight.” On that day, a Russian ATGM  landed right at his feet and, as he  says, “everything went dark after that.”  

He also partially lost his hearing, suffered a heart contusion, a brain hemorrhage, and an open jaw fracture. Vitalii then fell into a coma and was later in intensive care, as well as undergoing two years of treatment. Now he will undergo blepharoplasty—a procedure to allow for the fitting of a prosthetic eye.

Veres is one of the patients of Face the Future medical mission—within this program, a team of Canadian and American surgeons helps soldiers and civilians who have suffered severe head and neck injuries as a result of the fighting. This is the first time he will take part in this mission, but he assures us that, probably, this will be his last surgery as well. 

“For me, health comes first,” says Veres, “The sheer number of times I’ve been under anesthesia… They [surgeons—ed.] promise everything will be fine, but if it doesn’t work out, I’ll just stay this handsome,” he laughs. 

In front of the camera

While we talk with Vitalii, his girlfriend is editing a video on her phone on the bed next to him. “We’ve known each other since 2013,” says Veres. “There were a few breaks in our relationship, but now we’re back together, after the injury.” She stays by Vitalii’s side and, in particular, helps him with his blog on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, where he has a total of over 180,000 followers.

On his page, he shows his daily life—tells his followers about surgeries and treatments, shares his athletic achievements, and showcases his workouts. And, as he especially emphasizes, Vitalii doesn’t forget to joke on his page.

“I want to show that I take everything with a smile. Okay, I can’t see—so what now?” Vitalii says. “You can’t turn back time, and you have to find yourself, find new meaning, and most of all prove to yourself that you can do anything.”

“The story of how the Instagram page was created is simple, but a little triggering,” he says. It was made by his family when they learned about his injury—just to share their next steps in helping their loved one. “I have a photo where I’m lying down, completely bandaged, my lips stitched—literally sewn together because everything was damaged. I was in a coma, tubes sticking out of me everywhere: a tracheostomy, several catheters. Imagine what my mom must have felt… There was no one to say, ‘Everything will be okay. People live without sight; he will learn. It’s not the end of the world.’”

Vitalii only found out about the Instagram page four months later, while he was receiving treatment in Israel. That’s when he decided to start posting videos and sharing details of his life after the injury. “I want to show, first and foremost, to the soldiers who have lost a part of themselves, who have been wounded, that life doesn’t end after that—it just becomes a little different.” As he often puts it: he may be in the rear, but he is never in reserve.

With my own example, I show that nothing is impossible as long as your heart is still beating.

Vitalii Veres

Ukrainian veteran

Not letting it break you 

One year after being wounded in 2023, Vitalii Veres became a world champion in adaptive strongman as part of the Ukrainian national team. The following year, he earned this title for a second time. In 2025, he became the Ukrainian champion in para athletics in the shot put.

Vitalii is now an ambassador for a foundation that supports soldiers and civilians who have sustained injuries resulting in complete or partial vision loss. “They’re in Bukovel  right now, by the way,” Vitalii says. “They went to a water park, they’re doing clay modeling, and they’re planning to climb Hoverla.” If not for the surgery, Vitalii would be there summiting Ukraine's highest peak with them.

Finally, Vitalii recalls the words of his friend who suffered a spinal fracture and recently completed a marathon in a wheelchair: “In life, you may break—but what matters is not letting it break you.”

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