Anatoly Gladkikh was planning to retire and travel with his wife Tatyana, but a bombardment in the Donbas region changed everything
Anatoly Gladkikh17 December 2024 6:00am GMT
This year, the Telegraph is honouring our late colleague David Knowles, co-host of the award-winning podcast Ukraine: The Latest, by working with Humanity & Inclusion, a charity helping the ill, vulnerable and disabled left behind in war zones. Since February 2022, intense bombing in Ukraine has resulted in more than 11,120 killed and over 21,800 injured. The entire country remains under air raid threats. For those who survive, there are many challenges ahead.
Before the war, my life was good. I had a well-paid job as a driver and my wife, Tatyana, and I ran a successful business with several shops. We were comfortable and didn’t need anything; we made plans to travel and enjoy our retirement in the coming years. On April 19 this year, aged 63, everything changed in an instant.
It was two years into the full-scale war in Ukraine and two days after my daughter’s wedding. We had just returned home to the Donbas region after celebrating. I was outside in the front yard and Tatyana called me in for dinner. At the exact same moment, a bombardment started and there was a massive explosion. I was thrown against the wall of our house. The damage to my legs was terrible – I was bleeding heavily and in awful pain.
Medics arrived and did what they could to stabilise me, but the wound in my leg was severe and they were overwhelmed with the number of people – my neighbours, pedestrians who were just walking by – who needed help. Three people were completely torn to pieces and at least another 12 injured, there were body parts everywhere. Tatyana and I tried to make our way to nearby Pokrovsk for treatment as I was still bleeding, but the hospital would only accept military patients. We travelled on to the Dnipro region, where we could get treatment, but it was very expensive.
I continued treatment for months but nothing seemed to help, and one of my toes on the leg that wasn’t wounded turned black. Doctors did a lot of tests, I saw a lot of specialists, but the explosive wave had destroyed my blood vessels and caused severe thrombosis. My injury was also not healing and had become infected. On August 29, they amputated one of my legs, and the following day they removed the other one. I was devastated. All of my independence, my ability to work and provide for my family, was gone.
My life has been impacted dramatically. I used to travel a lot and now I feel like I’m trapped in a prison. I’m mostly confined to a bed that is barely big enough to accommodate me. Tatyana has become my full-time caregiver, and I can see the toll it’s taking on her. We used to be such an active, vibrant couple. Now, I’m completely dependent on her for everything.
We have stayed in the Dnipro region. We live on the ninth floor of a residential block, and there are four of us in a one-room apartment. My mother had to move in with us after her hand was wounded in another attack in Donbas, and then my wife’s mother, who lost part of her hearing when an explosion knocked her over. The lift in the building rarely works and my wheelchair doesn’t fit inside anyway, so I am almost trapped. We wanted to rent a larger apartment on a lower floor of our building so that I would be able to get in and out more easily, but there is a lot of stigma against people with disabilities and no one would let a property to us. We don’t even have access to a bomb shelter.
Tatyana and I have six children between us. We should be appointed colonels in recognition of how much we have sacrificed to this war – soon after it began, my son was killed by shelling as he returned home from work.
I used to earn good money but our income has been reduced to our meagre pensions of around £110 each, which just covers rent at £96 a month, food and £39 for utilities. We’ve had to sell our car just to afford my medication and the supplies I need – they cost about £115 a month. Tatyana is constantly stressed, trying to figure out how we’ll make ends meet. She does her best to comfort me, but I can see the sadness in her eyes.
I am trying to register for disability relief but it will take a long time. I have to do an x-ray as part of the application and it’s difficult to arrange as I need three or four people to help me onto the table as I can’t lift myself. We have to pay for that, too, and get multiple doctor letters. It’s bureaucracy. After that, I hope to receive government support and prosthetic legs. For now, we get help from international organisations like Humanity & Inclusion.
We are so grateful for the help we get. At a time when so much feels hopeless, their support means the world to us. It reminds us that we’re not alone in this fight. I know our story is not unique – there are so many Ukrainians who have suffered life-altering injuries and tragedies because of this senseless war. When I think of everything that has happened to us it makes me so sad. I hope no one reading this ever has to know what it is like to live through something like this.
As told to Liz Cookman
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