“My main motivation was my young child. I had to protect my home, my land and my family.”— Oleksii Gushchyn
Born in Mykolaiv, Oleksii worked as a professional sailor and returned to Ukraine just one day before the full-scale invasion. His wife was nine months pregnant; their son, Oleksa, was born at the end of March. Feeling the weight of protecting his family and homeland, Oleksii — with no military experience — stepped forward and enlisted in the National Guard.
As a grenadier he was quickly in the heart of combat. In March 2023, near Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia, he was severely wounded in an enemy drone attack, suffering a major leg injury. His determination to protect Ukraine's sovereignty never faltered.
After a harrowing six-hour evacuation, his right leg was amputated due to tourniquet syndrome. At Lviv's UNBROKEN Center he began rehabilitation and prosthetics — and just a week after receiving his prosthesis, he walked 400 metres on crutches. His specialists have been astonished by the speed of his recovery.
