#Veterans

“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.

When the sun is high on June 1, four Dutch and four Ukrainian servicemen descend the porch of the Defense Ministry in the Netherlands. Ahead of them: 2,600 kilometers to Kyiv in just 21 days, a charity march to confront PTSD and raise funds for those still battling its invisible scars.

Cheerleaders, entertainers, and hundreds of fans gathered to cheer on players competing for gold at the first-ever All-Ukrainian Wheelchair Basketball Tournament for veterans. On the court, skill, talent, and fierce competition give new insight into what life with a disability can look like.