#Veterans

“1,2,3,4!” The commands echo across the river as blades slam in unison. On Kyiv’s Trukhaniv Island, soldiers and veterans swapped rifles for paddles, driving long dragon-headed boats down the Dnipro to the beat of a drum in Ukraine’s first-ever dragon boat race.

“I felt like I was merging with a rock I was sitting on. I called my mother to say I loved her,” says Oleh Fitkalo, describing his experience during a psychedelic session. For him and other Ukrainian veterans, psychedelic therapy is opening unexpected doors to healing from the invisible wounds of war.

On a golf course outside Kyiv, four players move unhurriedly along the fairways, chatting as they go. All of them are Ukrainian veterans who have been through the hell of Russia’s war, lost a limb, and yet today hold a golf club with confidence.

“And now, guys, let’s do this exercise on the other leg,” said the head coach. A second later, dozens of men on the football pitch started laughing. Meet “Nezlamni”—Kharkiv’s first club to play amputee football. Almost all the players are veterans who lost their limbs on the battlefield.