In Pictures

Photos: In Ukraine, limbs lost and lives devastated in an instant

Ukrainians who have lost limbs during Russia’s invasion try to come to terms with their life changing injuries.

Followed by their mother Natasha, Yarik Stepanenko, 11, pushes his twin sister Yana's wheelchair along a corridor of a public hospital in Lviv, — Followed by their mother, Natasha, Yarik Stepanenko, 11, pushes his twin sister Yana's wheelchair. A Russian missile hit the railway station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk where Yana, Yarik and their mother Natasha were planning to catch an evacuation train heading west and, they hoped, to safety. Yana lost two legs, one just above the ankle, the other higher up her shin. Natasha lost her left leg below the knee. Yarik was uninjured. [Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo]

By AP

There is a cost to war – to the countries that wage it, to the soldiers who fight it, to the civilians who endure it. For nations, territory is gained and lost, and sometimes regained and lost again. But some losses are permanent. Lives lost can never be regained. Nor can limbs.

And so it is in Ukraine.

The stories of people who undergo amputations during the conflict are as varied as their wounds, as are their journeys of reconciliation with their injuries. For some, losing a part of their body can be akin to a death of sorts; coming to terms with it is a type of rebirth.

For soldiers wounded while defending their country, their sense of purpose and belief in the cause they were fighting for can sometimes help them cope psychologically with amputation. For some civilians, maimed while going about their lives in a war that already terrified them, the struggle can be much harder.

For the men, women and children who have lost limbs in the war in Ukraine, now in its third month, that journey is just beginning.

Yana Stepanenko, 11, looks at her phone as she lies in bed at a public hospital in Lviv — Yana looks at her phone as she lies in the bed at a public hospital in Lviv, western Ukraine. She misses her home and her friends and is looking forward to getting prosthetics. 'I really do want to run,' she said. [Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo]

Olena Viter, 45, receives a surgery at a public hospital in Kyiv — Olena Viter, 45, undergoes surgery at a hospital in Kyiv. Viter lost her leg and 14-year-old son Ivan when bombs rained on their village Rozvazhiv, in the Kyiv region, on March 14. Four people died, including Ivan, and about 20 were wounded. [Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo]

Olena Viter, 45, paints on her bed as she recovers from her wounds at a public hospital in Kyiv — Viter paints on her bed as she recovers from her wounds. Her son Ivan was killed in the explosion that took her left leg. He was a budding musician playing in a small orchestra. Her husband Volodymyr buried him and another boy killed in the same blast under a guelder-rose bush in their garden. [Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo]

Natasha Stepanenko, 43, sits on her bed with her daughter Yana, 11, at a public hospital in Lviv — Natasha Stepanenko, 43, sits on her bed with her daughter Yana at a public hospital in Lviv. [Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo]

22-year-old Anton Gladun has his wounds cleaned by doctors at the Third City Hospital, in Cherkasy, Ukraine — Anton Gladun, 22, has his wounds cleaned by doctors at the Third City Hospital in Cherkasy, central Ukraine. Gladun, a military medic deployed on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, lost both legs and left arm due to a mine explosion on March 27. [Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo]

Anton Gladun, 22, eats on his bed in at the Third City Hospital, in Cherkasy — Gladun eats on his bed at the hospital. He is eager to get his prosthetics and start walking. He figures his military career is probably over, but he wants to study information technology. What helps, he said, 'is my understanding that if I would be sad, would cry because of what happened, then it would only be worse'. [Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo]

Oksana Balandina, 23, receives medical assistance by a doctor who cleans her wounds at a public hospital in Lviv — Oksana Balandina, 23, receives medical attention at a public hospital in Lviv. Oksana lost both legs and four fingers on her left hand when a shell exploded near her house on March 27. 'There was an explosion. Just after that I felt my legs like falling into emptiness. I was trying to look around and saw that there were no legs any more - only bones, flesh and blood.' [Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo]

Nastia Kuzik, 21, reacts to pain while undergoing a rehabilitation session at a public hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine — Nastia Kuzik, 21, grimaces in pain during a rehabilitation session at a hospital in Kyiv. On the morning of March 17, she went to her brother's house in Chernihiv - on her way back she was injured in a bombing. She lost her right leg below the knee and seriously injured her left leg. She has now been transported to Germany for further treatment. [Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo]

Sasha Horokhivskyi, 38, performs mirror therapy to mitigate phantom pains at a public hospital in Kyiv — Sasha Horokhivskyi, 38, takes part in mirror therapy to mitigate phantom pains at a hospital in Kyiv. Horokhivskyi lost his leg above the knee on March 22 after being shot in the calf by a Ukrainian territorial defence member who mistook him for a spy after he stopped to take photos of bombed buildings near his home. [Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo]